SeeD
by Jason Tandro
Summary: The assassination failed, the Gardens were destroyed, and the world is two years into the rule of the Galbadian Empire. The prisoners, former members of the mercenary unit SeeD, must now complete the mission they set out to, or die trying.
1. Introduction

SeeD

By: Jason Tandro

Introduction:

Ordinarily I avoid AR fanfictions like the black death, but upon seeing my friend purchase a book entitled Target America: Hitler's Plan to attack the USA, I got interested in this particular genre. So this is my very first AR fiction ever. Following my personal favorite Final Fantasy 8, this will tell the story of SeeD in a post-SeeD era. Galbadia has taken over the world, except the missing continent of Esthar, and the Gardens have been destroyed. Now, Squall will have to fall into the unlikely role of leader, or else surrender to the might of the enemy.


	2. Chapter 1: Two Years Later

Chapter I- Two Years Later

March 7, Year 2 G.E. (Galbadian Empire)

Biggs patrolled the corridors of the desert prison, lamenting the circumstances that forced him to work as the night watchman. Holding a cup of coffee in his hand, he strolled casually down the halls, trying to keep himself awake. That feeling of surreal existence slowly creeping up on him; the point of mental twilight between awake and asleep, he took another sip of his coffee to rejuvenate him.

"Damn," he curses silently to himself. The bitter ground beverage was not something he had been used to, but it was the only thing that helped him fend off the unwanted sandman for another three hours.

There was a clamor from one of the nearby cells. A prisoner was screaming for some water. His hands banged against the door loudly, begging to be heard. Biggs banged back with his gun-arm left fist.

"Quiet in there, prisoner! Breakfast is in four hours. You can wait until then!" Biggs shouted.

The banging continued, but Biggs just walked along, not bothering to give him any more stay than that. He rounded a corner and went up to the next level; 7 of 15. He truly hated this job, but as a soldier there was nothing he could say about it.

However on this level Biggs saw something that he had not expected. A lone soldier stood at attention next to one of the terminal rooms. This was certainly odd, and Biggs did not like it. He approached the soldier cautiously, with his right hand reaching ever so slowly for the triggering mechanism on his gunarm.

"You there! Stand and report!" Biggs barked.

The soldier turned to Biggs and seemed surprised to see him. "Uh, sorry, sir."

"What are you doing here?" Biggs demanded.

"Private Carrie, I'm here with Sergeant Frederickson. 323rd Maintenance Division," The Private saluted.

"323rd sticking their nose in my systems again? What's wrong this time?" Biggs asked, releasing his grip on the triggering mechanism.

"Static distortion on your cell doors is causing some problems with the way prisoners are monitored… this is just a routine check-up," the private replied.

"The electrical system on this prison is ancient. Got more hiccups than my truck," Biggs sighed. "Look, kid, you'll probably learn this sooner or later, but if you're in this prison after visiting hours you need to make an advance appointment. Pass that onto your superior in there."

"Yes sir. Sorry, sir," The private nodded.

Biggs walked off in the direction of the cells. The private heard another bang on a cell door and Biggs shouting to another prisoner: "Bathroom break in four hours! Hold it, or piss in the corner!"

The private tapped lightly on the door behind him. "Zone, he's gone."

The young dark-haired rebel Zone exited the door holding his stolen helmet under his arm and a small data pad in his hands. "These uniforms suck. No wonder these guys are so pissy. How you holding up Watts?"

Watts glanced around the corner and removed his helmet. "That bloke is on the next level. No time like the present."

"All business, as usual," Zone chuckled. He pressed a small series of numbers on the datapad he had been carrying and two doors popped open on their level.

Two small crowds of people began to scuttle out like roaches, each carrying small bags of equipment and weapons. From the first door came a young man with spiked blonde hair, a small woman with curvy brown hair and a taller woman with long blonde hair, each wearing the appropriate prison attire. Out of the second came two young men, who looked like former Galbadian technicians.

"Okay. With a little help from our two new comrades," Zone said with a nod to the technicians, "we'll be able to save Squall and get out of here."

The larger, more intimidating of the two technicians pulled out a large harness from his bag. "Name's Raurk. I'll be your rappelling instructor this evening."

Raurk strapped the harness around his chest and motioned for the others to do the same. Zone and Watts picked up the supplies from two additional bags that Raurk had been carrying.

"You attach this cord to your harness on one end, and the other to the railing here," Raurk pointed to the large circular gap in the center of the prison floor, which allowed cells to be extracted and moved to alternate floors. "Our target is in a solitary confinement gap located between floors 4 and 5. Now if that big guy makes his rounds at the same pace he's been making them, we have about 15 minutes before he gets back down to this level."

Dent, the less intimidating of the two technicians had already installed his line and begun to climb over the railing. He adjusted his glasses before making the final leap.

"Just slide down as Dent's doing. Now at night the prison isn't submerged, so the first floor door will be open. We can just go ahead and waltz on out, but we need to be quick. Zone," Raurk looked over at Zone's datapad. "Will that do the trick?"

"Are you kidding, it's one of my inventions. What could go wrong?" Zone asked.

Raurk and Dent exchanged nervous glances, but Dent was out of sight before he could actually say anything. Raurk connected his line and went over the side along with Dent, slipping another large bag over his back.

"What's in there?" Watts asked.

"Surprises," Raurk grinned as he lowered his line. The prisoners, Zone and Watts, followed after him.

The group slowly slid down their lines. Despite going over second, Raurk was the first one to reach the target, and he held up his hand to signal the others to stop. They were somewhere in-between floors 4 and 5, exactly as Raurk had said. The bottom of Floor 5 was above them, and a metal cover that protected Floor 4 was below them, giving the 60 foot gap of space a cave-like feeling.

"What number is it Zone?" Dent asked, in a voice not so deep or commanding as Raurk's.

"6201: Leonhart, Squall. Crime: Attempted Murder, High Treason, yadda yadda yadda," Zone babbled looking at the datapad. He then pointed casually at one large bunker cell that had been inserted into a lone slot in between these floors.

"No door on the back," said the blonde woman. "How do we do this?"

Raurk pulled a shotgun out of the back that he had casually slung over his back on their way down.

"That won't put a dent in the armor!" The blonde man argued, but Raurk wasn't done.

He attached a large metal barrel to the underside of the shotgun and fired a massive round into the side of the wall. The round exploded on contact, ripping the metal plate into shreds.

"Surprise," Raurk said, turning back to grin at the blonde man.

Raurk jumped into the cell and slid back out carrying a young, but haggard looking man with dark brown hair and a thick layer of stubble around his face.

"Could you have made that any louder?" Squall asked as he grabbed onto Raurk's harness.

"Well this is a stealth mission," Raurk snapped back, unimpressed by Squall's seriousness.

He lowered himself to the first floor, with the other prisoners following behind. However, awaiting them on the first floor was an entire squad of Galbadian soldiers, armed with rifles.

"You're unarmed, prisoners. Surrender," A captain in the back said.

"Unarmed?" Raurk asked. "What the hell do you call this?"

Raurk grabbed his shotgun and fired a round into the first soldiers chest. The other prisoners took cover, grabbing similar firearms out of their bags. The woman with brown hair fired two pistols round into the shoulder of the Captain, but he retaliated with a three-round burst from his gunarm.

A soldier ran around one of the pillars and aimed his gun at Squall, but the blonde man grabbed him by the throat and ripped the rifle out of his hands, and then finished him off by ramming the butt of the weapon into his face.

The only one who seemed ill-prepared for combat was Dent, who was indiscriminately firing a sub-machinegun into the enemy ranks. A loud alarm echoed throughout the prison.

"Their submerging!" Raurk shouted. "Get through the door!"

Raurk rushed in close with his shotgun and took out two soldiers blocking the door, albeit taking a round in the ear. Squall and Dent were next behind him, followed by the other prisoners. Watts was close behind, stopping once to fire a pistol round into a pursuing soldiers stomach, and Zone dove through the front door as the metal barricade slid across it and the massive prison began to descend.

"Hah! They'll have to finish the submerge process before they can chase us!" Raurk laughed.

"Well, let's not linger. I assume we have a ride?" Squall asked.

A large Galbadian military vehicle drove up from around one of the three pillars of the submerging desert. Squall reached for the machinegun he had grabbed, but Raurk clasped his large hand tightly around the barrel. The doors of the vehicle opened and a young man in a brown tweed jacket and dark black rimmed hat exited.

"Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Squall," The man counted to himself. "And some stowaways I see. Rinoa said there'd be additional help."

"Irvine? Stayed under the radar, I see," Squall replied somewhat tersely.

"All the better to save your ass now," Irvine replied coolly. "Hop in. The APC can carry 15, but if we don't get a move on we won't be going anywhere but back inside."

Squall and the others nodded, and took their seats in the vehicle. Irvine started it up and drove away from the still descending Desert Prison.


	3. Chapter 2: The Change In Plans

Chapter II- The Change In Plans

March 8, 2 G.E.

The vehicle slowly came to a stop. The sudden lurch jolted Squall from his sleep, and he reached for the weapon that was slung around his shoulder. He saw the metallic interior of the APC and had a horrifying temporary flashback to his cell. The sudden bursts of electricity whenever the guards felt he needed a lesson, or were just feeling generally sadistic. The high-pitched whine that would be emitted from loudspeakers whenever they felt Squall had been sleeping too much. The high doses of noxious gasses to keep him docile. His arms and hands were so weakened and scarred. He hadn't held a gun-blade in two years. He wondered if he would even be able to after all this.

He slowly began to feel around the APC to see who else was with him. Sitting beside him was Raurk, who apparently had been on guard duty during the drive. Dent and Zone were finishing up a match of Triple Triad on the floor, with Watts and Zell looking over their shoulders. Selphie was asleep still and leaning on Quistis's shoulder. Quistis was busy looking on the datapad that Zone had used during the breakout. She glanced over at Squall.

"Are you alright?" She asked tentatively.

"The best nights sleep I've had in two years. Where are we?" Squall asked.

Irvine opened the APC door and answered for her. "Welcome to Timber, ladies and gentlemen."

"Timber?!" Squall shouted. "What the hell? I thought we were going to escape to Balamb by sea."

"The Dollet Dukedom is no longer under the good Duke's authority. They were expecting us," Raurk explained. "We've had to alter the plan a bit."

Squall sighed and nodded. He didn't know what they expected to find back at Balamb. The Garden, that is, the military training center and home of the mercenary unit SeeD (which, until two years ago, Squall had been a Captain of) was now long since destroyed. Even visiting the small island town seemed futile with Galbadian units around the globe. On the other hand, by that logic there was no safe place anymore, and Balamb seemed as good a place as any.

"Got word from our friends last night," Quistis added. "They'll be ready to pick us up."

"Our friends?" Squall inquired. Having spent two years in solitary meant he was only aware of the basic proceedings of the plan. The clever Zone had been sending encrypted messages to him for three months now using the prison terminals. Of course, as to not draw attention, they could only be about three sentences each, so the details he received were bare minimum and essentially gave updates on the other prisoners and how the plans for the breakout were going.

Last night, Zone had sent the last message: "We're coming. Stay away from the back wall. Got some outside help."

The breakout had been pretty haphazard considering the months put into it. Originally Zone had planned on using Zell's brute strength to steal some uniforms and sneak out that way, but with the new identification system installed in the prisons, they would never have made it out. Then the plans changed to Zone and Watts joining the military under assumed identities, which they did. This made it easier to get messages to Squall and the others, and even allowed them some access to the prison district.

The breakout supplies had been delivered about two months before the actual breakout. Zell and Raurk had hid them in small metal grates, which they were able to remove and then reseal. Of course, the obvious downside to this was that the last two months of their stay in prison was without the benefit of climate control.

The "outside help" to which Zone had referred came from Irvine, who contacted them about two weeks before. Their only concern was how to get away safely. Well thanks to his contacts with the Galbadian military, Irvine was able to sub-contract an APC and document it as a "field test". Once the APC was safely in Irvine's hands, he made the call to Zone and the plan begun.

All things considered it went smoother than anticipated, although Squall had noticed Zone and Dent exchange looks of professional annoyance, each believing that the others carelessness had maybe cost them a smooth exit. Still it was hard to be mad, considering they all got out safely, with the exception of Raurk who's right ear was now bandaged to the point where he could only hear out of his left.

"You don't have a clue do you?" Zell asked, standing up to leave the APC. "Quistis, perhaps you should fill him in a bit."

"Well," Quistis sighed. "After our assassination attempt failed, the Garden was in the middle of an upheaval. The Garden Master, NORG claimed total control of the Garden and sought the execution of Headmaster Cid. The student body sided with NORG, but the fewer and more experienced SeeD members sided with Cid. Irvine here," Quistis nodded appreciatively at the cowboy, "was able to get a message to Xu, who evacuated some of the students… but not all of them."

So things were slightly better than Squall had feared. At least some had survived.

"Who made it, exactly?" Squall asked.

"Xu, Nida, Dr. Kadowaki, a handful of SeeDs, a few more students, most of the Junior classmen, thank God, and um…" Quistis trailed off.

"What about the Headmaster?" Squall asked.

"Well… he survived the missiles, but the attack left him in bad shape. He's… uh..."

"He lost his left arm and leg," Raurk finished, seemingly annoyed by Quistis beating around the bush. "Got a prosthetic arm, but has to roll around in a wheelchair."

Selphie awoke with an almost comical yawn and rubbed her eyes. "Are we there yet?"

"We're somewhere, little miss," Zone explained. "Timber. Change of plans."

Selphie seemed to share Squall's trepidation about the new assignment. "But the trains are all run by Galbadia. How are we gonna get there?"

"Fingers and toes crossed," Irvine replied and he grabbed her hand and helped her down.

The rest of the group got out of the APC and saw the town of Timber about a mile ahead of them. Squall took note of the fact that they were a tad beyond the reach of the gates when he asked, "So what now?"

"Well here's the thing. The only train that goes to Balamb will be carefully guarded. Not being one to crash the soldiers party, I've decided to go the sneaky route. The train leaves in," Irvine checked his wristwatch. "About an hour. In that time, everybody needs to be aboard."

Irvine reached into the trunk of the APC, which was basically a small under-side luggage-rack and pulled out two suitcases.

"Unfortunately for some civilians, their train tickets didn't arrive from the Conductor General. I picked them up after he finished screening them and now we have their seats. Which means no documentation issues, but we still stand out a bit, don't we?"

Irvine popped open the suitcases and, as Squall and the others expected, there was a veritable bounty of other clothes, false facial hair, thick hats and even the occasional eye-patch or set of glasses.

"Stop on by the joke shop did we?" Squall asked.

"Don't knock it. You've been nothing but pessimistic since this little reunion started," Irvine shot back. "Besides, Squall, I got you the nicest sweater vest and set of spectacles."

The girls took the inside of the APC and the men simply changed where they were, amid some discomfort. Squall had indeed been given the look of a smug college boy, a set of slacks, long collar shirt, sweater vest and set of glasses.

Irvine wore khaki shorts, sandals and replaced his dark hat with a wicker sun hat, over a white tanktop. He was clearly playing the tourist.

Dent and Raurk were dressed in full business suits, Raurk wearing a brown jacket and Dent wearing blue. There was something rather humorous about seeing the tall, muscular Raurk in a suit that was slightly too small for him.

Zell wore a long black robe, apparently playing a religious fanatic who would want to see Balamb for its potential missionary work.

Zone wore a transit authority uniform, although it was a misnomer since the Galbadian military now directly policed the trains and ships. Watts was dressed in blue jeans and a brown t-shirt, evidently an ordinary Timber citizen.

"Are you decent?" came Quistis's voice from inside the APC.

"We're good to go," Watts shouted back.

Quistis stepped out in a glamorous blue dress, with matching shoes and gloves.

"Is this a bit much?" Quistis asked, noticing the rather casual dress of the men.

"You look stunning," Irvine replied.

Quistis shook her head, but still blushed slightly. Selphie stepped out after her, wearing what looked like a woman's business suit, but with a neckerchief and lapel that indicated her as a train stewardess.

"I just hope nobody asks me to help them out," Selphie sighed.

Raurk and Dent yet again exchanged incredulous looks, as though agreeing that the outfits for the ladies had been taken from two of Irvine's boyhood fantasies.


	4. Chapter 3: The Right Track

Chapter III- The Right Track

Timber was not the ruined suburban mess that it had been during the days of open revolt. If there was one positive mark on empirical control, it was a significant boon in technology and architecture. Of course, everybody knew this was just a show. The technology was a way to invade privacy and assure nobody tried to have "illegal assemblies".

The train station crew was a collection of guards who appeared to be as weary of the new technology as the citizens. Squall saw, through his fake glasses, a soldier beating repeatedly on an optical scanner, a device which matched IDs based on eyes.

"The damn thing broke down!" The soldier complained as a superior walked by.

"Yeah, it just happened to break down," Dent whispered in Squall's ear.

Squall did not appreciate the candor, it was a poor time to make jokes, even if he did manage to pull off this little miracle. There was still the back-up plan, and the superior followed protocol to the letter.

"Okay, since our optical scanner is malfunctioning, we'll need to see your thumb-print ID. Use the small scanner located next to the gate and you'll get in," the superior instructed. With a hint of annoyance, he added. "And let's keep up the pace, people."

Zone had them covered on this. His time working with the Galbadian database gave them brand new "clean" identification based on their thumb prints. Zone was the first to scan his thumb, and the guard nodded.

"Okay Mr. Sheldon, go on in. Seat 3-A."

Watts, Raurk, Irvine, Zell, and Quistis got on without any difficulty, but when they scanned Selphie, two guards walked up from the platform and gave her the evil eye.

"Running a little late, Ms. Havano?" Said one guard in a friendly tone that belied the scowl on his face.

"Um… sorry?" Selphie shook a bit, not playing the part well.

"You were supposed to be on this train thirty minutes ago. And what are you doing using the guest entrance?" The guard demanded.

_Keep your cool, Selphie. _Squall pleaded silently. _Keep your cool._

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to say goodbye to my boyfriend," she said.

And with that she turned to Squall and gave him a very believable kiss. Squall couldn't help but turn red at the people, including his comrades on the other side of the gate, staring.

"Romantic," said the guard, seemingly unimpressed. "But you'd surely see him on the train anyways."

"Yeah, but it's not like I can stop and chat with him, now can I?" Selphie smiled.

The guard seemed irritated, but also not willing to do the paperwork necessary to discipline "Ms. Havano".

"From now on, take care of that before hand, and follow protocol to the letter. Unless you don't value your job. I'm sure we can find something else for you, say, working as a waitress in Deling City. Far away from Timber."

Selphie bowed, and then got on the train.

The moment of truth had come. Squall stepped up to the thumb-scanner.

"Taking Spring Break a little early, aren't we college boy?" The guard asked, conversationally as he read the thumb print.

"Visiting family," Squall explained. "Fishermen, you know how it goes."

"Yeah buddy. My dad lives up there in Dollet. Can you believe some resistance members tried to hack into one of the vessels there?" The guard chuckled.

"Like they could get past security," Squall nodded, laughing.

"Yeah. I tell you, they must think we're idiots or something. Times are great, and the sorceress's rule is brilliant. What's there to rebel against?" The guard pressed a button on the terminal, which opened the gate for Squall. There was a loud, but brief buzzing noise as the gate opened .

"Right. Well, take it easy," Squall nodded.

"You have a good one," the guard replied.

---

Squall sat in the cabin with Quistis, staring out the window at the last few miles of landscape before they entered the trans-continental tunnel. Eight solid hours of pitch blackness, tearing through almost 2,000 miles of opportunity to get caught and have nowhere to run. The forests surrounding Timber had been destroyed long ago, but a few scattered woods still remained.

Quistis leaned back in her seat and took off her gloves. She seemed concerned about something, but Squall couldn't tell what. He knew that if it was relevant to the mission, she'd tell him. Otherwise, he didn't care.

There was a knock at the door, and Selphie walked in, leaving a large trolley in the hallway. The trolley was full of snacks, drinks, magazines, packs of cards, cigarettes and pillows.

"This job sucks," Selphie sighed. "I'm SeeD! How can I be getting worn out from this?"

"Well you've spent two years in prison. You won't be on top form," Squall replied.

"I guess so," Selphie sighed. "So did you guys need anything? It's built into the cost of your tickets."

"A bottle of water, I guess," Quistis said.

"Nothing for me, thank you," Squall replied. He wasn't hungry at all.

"Okay," Selphie nodded handing Quistis a thin blue plastic bottle.

There was a loud bell, and the conductor began to speak. "Attention passengers we are about to enter the tunnel. Get your last look at the scenery folks."

Quistis let out a low scoff. "Yeah, what remains of it."

"We will be switching on the lights now, so there is no delay in lighting. If you wish to turn the lights off for your individual cabin, you may do so using the switch located on the wall near your door.

Dinner will be served about halfway through our trip. As always you may make a request for a late dinner, but please do so within the next hour. Snacks and drinks are available whenever one of our lovely service attendants are in your corridor. They do checks every half-hour, but you may feel free to use the Do Not Disturb sign provided.

Also, if you are going to roam through the train please be aware that the first two cars are off-limits.

And on that note, ladies an gentlemen we are entering the tunnel… now."

A sudden wave of darkness hit, muted slightly by the low white light.

"Creepy. Well, I gotta get back to work!" Selphie sighed.

"Take care of yourself, Selphie," Quistis nodded, patting her shoulder.

Selphie left and began pushing the large trolley, which seemed to require just slightly more force than the tiny girl could produce.

"First two cars are off-limits?" Squall asked. "Why's this?"

"Not sure. But I don't think we should go try and find out," Quistis instructed.

Squall shook his head. There was something that bothered him about how the conductor had made sure that no passengers would go snooping about. Something was up.

"I'm gonna take a breather," Squall said, as he opened the cabin door.

"Squall!" Quistis hissed.

But Squall ignored her, and headed down the train. His gunblade had been checked in the luggage car, but he agreed with Quistis that now wasn't the time to fight. He just wanted to get a general idea of what was going on.

But he wasn't the one who would be able to do it.

---

Irvine, Zell and Dent sat in a cabin of their own in the third car. Zell and Dent seemed to have resumed their Triple Triad match and Irvine leaned back in his seat, smoking a cigarette and reading an issue of Weapon's Monthly.

Squall opened the door and walked in, closing it behind him as softly as possible.

"Irvine. What do you know about the front two cars?" Squall asked.

Irvine didn't miss a beat, seeming to have been expecting this. He set the magazine down on his lap and set the cigarette in between his fingers.

"I tried to find out myself earlier, but the door is guarded by three Galbadian soldiers. It'd be no trouble for me, but might create a ruckus so I figure I'd wait it out," Irvine explained.

"Any idea what is in there?" Squall asked.

Irvine shook his head. "No, but I'm not the guy you'd want to ask. I'm still a student of Galbadia Garden. Not a soldier yet."

Squall nodded, and left the cabin.

"Uh, dude," Zell tried to catch Squall as he left, but it was too late. "Jeez, the guy could have at least said 'hello' or something."

---

On his way back down the train towards his cabin he saw Raurk leaning against the wall in the fifth car.

"Greetings," Raurk said.

"Oh, hello Raurk," Squall nodded.

Raurk stood without his jacket and tie on and his sleeves rolled up. Apparently the heat of the tunnel had been getting to him.

"You're trying to get into the first two cars, ain't you?" Raurk asked.

Squall slapped his head. "Am I that predictable? You don't even know me."

"The only reason I can tell for you to be wandering around the car when there's a 100,000 gil bounty on your head. Unless, of course, you needed a pit stop," Raurk chuckled.

"Well yes, I'm interested in what's in there. Irvine can't get in, though," Squall said.

Raurk chuckled again. "Well jeez. Do we know about anybody who's specialty is gathering information?"

And then it hit him.

"Watts! He does this kind of stuff all the time," Squall exclaimed.

"Yeah. We figured that too. He's already in their computer system," Raurk explained.

"Great. What has he found out?" Squall asked.

"We don't know yet. He's having a little trouble decrypting it, but if things go according to plan, he should find out by the end of our little trip," Raurk explained.

Suddenly, a loud metal grinding echoed through the tunnel. Squall fell back against the wall and Raurk toppled over onto the ground. The train had stopped moving.


	5. Chapter 4: Another Escape

Chapter Four: Another Escape

The door to the cabin burst open and soldiers began running in the direction of the front of the train. Raurk and Squall leaned back against the wall and let them continue on. This would have been fine, until they hear a loud explosion followed by a series of screams.

"What's going on up there?" Squall demanded.

The front door burst open again, and Watts, Irvine, Zell and Zone jumped in.

"What the hell?" Raurk shouted.

"There's a huge monster!" Shouted Dent as he ran in behind the four.

Selphie opened the rear door, and Quistis came in with her. The group now looked around, and realized they were alone in this car.

"What's going on?" Squall asked.

"The Galbadian army brought in a monster. It was being kept in the second car for safe-keeping! I've never seen anything like that before in my life!" Irvine gasped.

Zone crumpled to the floor and clutched his stomach. "I can't take this!"

"Pull yourself together!" Raurk shouted. "We have to deal with that!"

"The entire troop got wiped out trying to take it on! It's not an option, sir!" Watts said.

Raurk chanced a glance at Squall, who looked down both sides of the train. "Okay. I understand."

Squall nodded back at Selphie, Zell and Quistis. Zell raised his fists, and the women their weapons. They understood completely. This is what SeeD was good at. Squall opened the front door and the four of them moved slowly down the hallway. The others followed suit behind them, with Irvine taking the rear, watching their backs with his shotgun.

Now that the train had stopped, it was eerily quiet. There was no chatter from the passengers, no whistles, no engine moving. Nothing. Dead silence.

"God damn it's creepy in here," Zone whined.

"Shh!" Quistis hissed.

They slowly made their way through the cars one-at-a-time. Each time they opened a door they expected to encounter something, but nothing met them.

The middle car was the luggage car. Squall grabbed his gunblade and loaded it. He took one look behind Irvine and then continued forward. The gunblade's cold steel handle felt so comfortable in his hand. It had been so long since he wielded it that it seemed heavier than it was. It would take him a while to get used to the difference in what his muscles used to be capable of, and what they were currently capable of.

Squall opened the doors ahead of him. Car 6, Car 5, Car 4. Squall opened the door to Car 3 and heard from the next car over the sounds of battle. Two guns were still going off wildly, but as soon as Squall had made it halfway to the end of the train, they stopped abruptly.

He knew what was coming before it actually occurred. There was the sound of charging footsteps, and the door in front of him blew open. A massive horned beast stood before him, holding a large hammer.

"What the hell is that?!" Zell shouted.

The creature stood on its hindlegs, which looked like those of a reptile. It's torso was human, but its head was that of an eagle, only with massive horns.

"I don't really care," Irvine replied.

The creature slammed its hammer down in front of Squall, who leapt out of the way. Irvine, Raurk and Zone all opened fire with their weapons, but the bullets didn't seem to have any effect on it. Quistis spun her whip and then smashed it down on the creature's head, but this also did nothing.

"Anybody know any good spells?" Watts asked.

Selphie cast a thunder spell on the beast, but this only seemed to enrage it.

"Oh come on!" Squall said as he plunged his gunblade into the beasts back. The blade sunk in, but as he pulled it out, the wound cauterized instantly.

"That's great," Quistis hissed. "What now?"

"Run!" Raurk barked. The creature charged straight through the group. They all leapt to one side, sending the creature slamming into the back of the car.

"Up ahead!" Dent shouted. "Get to the engine!"

Squall didn't think, he just ran. The others seemed to get what he was planning though. Dent shut the second car door behind them. They heard the beast preparing to charge as they all piled into the first car.

"Uncouple us!" Irvine shouted.

"And get us out of here!" Raurk nodded as he undid the chain connecting cars 1 and 2.

Squall wasn't sure how to operate the train, but after some guesswork with the levers, the first car started. It drove off, leaving the shrieking beast behind, along with the rest of the train.

"Oh what the hell was that?" Dent cursed, sinking to the ground.

"And where were the civilians?" Raurk asked.

"I didn't see any other passengers. Could they all have been- dead?" Quistis asked.

"No that's the odd thing though," Squall said, remembering something. "We heard gunshots before the beast attacked us. But when we ran through there, I didn't see anything. No corpses, no weapons, nothing."

This was something the others had not noticed. Zell was scratching his head, and Quistis was pacing nervously.

"So… why?" Selphie asked.

"I don't know," Squall replied. "But I would really like to find out. How close are we to Balamb?"

"About two hours," Quistis said, looking at the trains odometer.

"Alright then. We've been gone for two years, so I imagine we'll have a pretty full report to give," Squall nodded.


	6. Chapter 5: Homecoming

Chapter 05- Homecoming

Author's Note: I combine SeeD and US Army military rank protocols:

Rank 1-3 : 2nd Lieutenant

Rank 4-6 : 1st Lieutenant

Rank 7-9 : Captain

Rank 10-12 : Major

Rank 13-15 : Lt. Colonel

Rank 16-18 : Colonel

Rank 19-21 : Brigadier General

Rank 22-24 : Major General

Rank 25-27 : Lieutenant General

Rank 28-30 : General

Rank A: General of the Armies (5-Star General)

---

The first two cars of the intercontinental train arrived at Balamb station at a quarter past nine in the evening. But nobody was on it. Irvine sat on the hill overlooking the tunnel and train station of Balamb. Using binoculars he saw as the Galbadian soldiers examined the train and shot quizzical glances at each other.

A large Major in standard issue red came out holding the over-ride that Dent had put into place on the throttle to keep the train moving a few moments before they had abandoned the train.

"Well they're thoroughly confused," Irvine said. "And pissed. Looks like they're sending a vehicle in to find out what happened to the train."

"Probably missing their pet monster. What the hell was that?" Zell asked.

Zone shook his head. "It was unreal. The passengers all just vanished."

"We don't have time for this right now," Squall said. "We need to return to base first. We can do a debriefing then."

Irvine nodded. "Well shit. I'm guessing it's my turn to do some leading."

Raurk patted Irvine on the shoulder as he walked past. Irvine looked at the nearby mountain ranges. Off in the distance was a massive ruined structure. Balamb Garden had not been able to withstand the missile barrage. All that remained was a charred outline.

Quistis, Selphie and Zell could barely look at it. Squall clenched his fists in anger, but this did not affect his resolve.

"Alright. Listen," Squall began. "We're heading to this base. Irvine is en point."

---

The hike sent them through the mountain ranges near Balamb and what used to be Balamb Garden. Irvine had explained that during the evacuation, they had originally sought refuge in the Fire Cavern, knowing that an underground operation in Balamb wouldn't last long.

"Course, the Fire Cavern was way too hot to hold a massive group of students and staff, plus it was a matter of public record that the cavern was used in Balamb Garden operations," Irvine continued. "So they found another cavern up here in the mountain and-"

There was a low rumbling, Selphie lost her footing and along the winding mountain path came two bikes with SeeDs mounted on them. The first SeeD raised his weapon, a decent-sized knife. "Identify yourselves!"

"Captain Squall Leonhart. SeeD Rank 7. These are my squad-mates and a few additional helpers," Squall said.

"Captain Leonhart? It's been two years! Welcome home!" Said the second SeeD.

"Or rather what's left of it," the first nodded grimly. "Come. The path leads around to the Sea-Side of the mountain. It's hidden from all but the occasional ships to Trabia, which haven't run since Trabia Garden was eliminated."

They walked around the bending road through a small pass between two mountain ranges, and along the sea. They saw a large metal fortress jutting out of the backside of a small inlet of water, and a tower that led up the side of the mountain. Ships were patrolling the shore, where battlements had been risen along with the occasional turret.

"Welcome to the Dark Garden. Only those of us still in SeeD know of its existence," the first SeeD nodded. "Head into the tower there. Headmaster Cid will be waiting for you on the fifth floor."

--

Dark Garden was a much more sterile environment than the bright, welcoming atmosphere of Balamb Garden, which had more resembled the name "Garden" than Galbadia Garden; Irvine's home.

Squall had been hoping for a transfer to Galbadia Garden when he was younger, before he qualified as a SeeD candidate. He had always considered Balamb Garden his home and so he chose to strive for SeeD rather than just completing his military degree.

The hallways of Dark Garden reminded him of the drab, military environment that Galbadia Garden reflected. Each floor of the tower was identical. Large classrooms and the occasional dormitory scattered about on each level.

As Irvine had explained, the tower had a self-defensive mechanism for attacks from the sea. Each level could be individually inserted into the mountain during an attack. If one level was damaged, it could not utilize this mechanism, so it was critical that each level operate as a self-sufficient unit.

On the fifth floor, however, there was only one large command center. And sitting in the center of the room, bound to a wheel-chair and with a mechanical arm and legs, was Headmaster Cid.

"Squall my boy!" Cid smiled. "Selphie, Zell, Quistis!"

Squall had not been expecting this casual a greeting, but he was aware of the Headmaster's tendency to treat his students as though they were his own children.

"Headmaster," Squall nodded. He then stood at attention. The others followed suit.

Cid rolled his wheelchair towards them, seeming to remember his military station. "At ease, ladies and gentlemen."

Cid rolled over to Raurk and Dent and patted their arms. "I appreciate your service to the Garden."

"It was nothing," Raurk nodded. "We had a bit of fun now didn't we?"

Cid smiled and returned to his desk. "So, I imagine we have a lot to catch up on, don't we?"


	7. Chapter 6: Debriefing

Chapter Six: Debriefing

The report was, as Squall had expected, a long one. He tried to remember as many details as he could, having tried to formalize his thoughts during their hike up the mountain. Cid sat expectantly that same loving smile on his scarred face. Somehow the site of his leader in such poor condition strengthened Squall's resolve. It made him feel responsible for the people who had died and he would not stop until his debt had been repaid.

"Two years, three months and twelve days ago," Squall began. And his memory was quite clear on this. He had counted every horrible day in that prison. "We were given an assignment that was a joint tactical operation between Galbadia and Balamb Garden. Squad Members were Lt. Dincht, Lt. Tilmitt, and I was the squad Captain. We were joined by Major Trepe, and the sharpshooter from Galbadia Garden Sergeant Kinneas."

Irvine felt the need to tip his hat at mention of his name. The others remained at attention.

"The mission was to assassinate, by way of the sniper Irvine Kinneas, the sorceress Edea. The Operational Commander of the mission was a general of the Galbadian Army, General Caraway. We were divided into two teams."

And at this General Caraway's words seemed to echo through the years into Squalls mind.

"The Sniper Team and the Gateway Team. The Gateway Team's mission was to trap the sorceress under the gated archway in Deling City during a ceremony; the sorceress's inauguration. This would leave her an easy target for the sniper. The mission… was a failure. The sniper delayed his shot for a moment too late and the sorceress was able to deflect the bullet with a spell. As per the instruction of the mission I charged the sorceress directly."

The panic of that night still gave him nightmares. Screams of terror in the night as the shot rang out, the Galbadian Army trying to keep everybody calm. Squall leapt from the top of the presidential estate and stole a car, charging towards the gate. As he entered, he was stopped by the Sorceress's Knight.

"Seifer, former Cadet of Balamb Garden who we believed executed, engaged me in battle. After I took him down, the sorceress engaged me directly. I was joined by Sergeant Kinneas and…"

He had almost forgotten.

"Rinoa Heartilly, General Caraway's daughter and a client of SeeD belonging to the resistance group the Forest Owls."

And at this moment Cid interjected his first comment. "Ah yes, Rinoa. Charming girl. Please continue."

Squall cleared his throat and continued. "The direct engagement was also a failure. The sorceress's powers were simply too great. I was, or so it seemed at the time, mortally wounded. Apparently I had been revived during my transfer to the desert prison. At this point in time there is not much to report, except for the details of our escape."

"Uh, permission to speak, uh, Captain Leonhart?" Irvine asked, seemingly uncomfortable with the formal environment. This had always bugged Squall. If the man wanted to be in the military why would he get bent out of shape over the proper decorum?

"Granted, I think you can probably fill in some of the holes better than I," Squall nodded, taking his place back in the formation.

Irvine walked up to Cid and hung in a position that was nowhere near attention and continued his report.

"Well for some reason they didn't cart my ass to jail. They said I 'didn't need to worry about it' and that I had 'done my part wonderfully'. Rinoa was also spared some time in the slammer by her dad pulling some strings. She's been under house arrest in her father's mansion, though, for quite some time," Irvine explained.

"Done your part?" Cid asked, and for the first time he looked very serious. "Please explain."

"Well I did a little digging. Rinoa was a huge help, the girl spent two years learning everything you could learn about computer hacking and is now something of a techno geek. Zone and Watts trained her up good," Irvine nodded.

Zone and Watts also nodded at their mention.

"Well while we were planning your escape, she uncovered something that I've been holding onto until we were back at a safe place," Irvine sighed.

"What is it?" Cid asked.

Irvine rubbed his forehead. His look of carelessness seemed to have melted off of his face.

"It was a setup. The whole damn thing was a setup. Martine and Caraway… they were being used by higher ups in the Galbadian Army who wanted Deling out and Edea in. Edea wanted an excuse to terminate Garden and for some reason she seemed hell bent on eliminating SeeD."

Squall remembered something else and interjected again. "For the first two months Seifer kept asking me about the 'true meaning of SeeD' and 'what our secret was'. I didn't know what he meant."

"No kidding," Irvine nodded. "Well it seems pointless to say it in present company, but the army launched a tactical strike on Trabia and Balamb Garden. Edea kept Galbadia Garden and has been using it as her fortress. Something else you guys should know. She flies now."

There was a quiver that ran through the formation.

"The Garden?" Cid asked.

"Apparently every Garden has a mechanism that can turn it mobile. If we had figured this out sooner we could have saved a lot of lives," Irvine sighed.

"NORG sought my elimination," Cid nodded. "He thought that he could appease the Sorceress by offering my head and the lives of all the members of SeeD who would not recant the oath. How he knew of the Sorceress's needs I'll never understand."

"The Garden Masters were all given an ultimatum," Irvine explained. "Surrender or die. NORG was given the additional task of undoing SeeD and apparently he didn't meet the deadline. And Trabia Garden refused to be subservient to Edea."

Selphie looked as though she was about the cry when she interrupted. "Do we… know what happened to them?"

Irvine shook his head. "The missile's hit their target. If the Garden Master of Trabia Garden got a message to her students then they might have made it out in time. But we know for certain that there are a lot of casualties."

Cid slammed his good arm down on his chair. "Damn it!"

Nobody had ever seen Cid this angry before. There was a fury in the old man's eyes now. Vengeance. Bloodlust.

"We have been preparing a counter-attack for quite some time now. With this new information I think we have everything we need," Cid said. He looked over to Squall. "Or is there something else you wish to report."

"Well, sir. On the train over here we were attacked by a monster. I've never seen anything like it but it apparently made all of its enemies simply vanish. No bodies, no nothing," Squall explained.

"Galbadia is breeding more monsters then. I'm glad you brought this up but we can't do anything about that now. Frankly, Squall, the people and not the monsters of Galbadia scare me," Cid explained.

Cid rolled over to a display monitor and took control of the meeting.

"Now listen. From what we have been able to deduce, the elimination of SeeD is not the only target of Edea's. She has, for quite some time, been hunting down Ellone," Cid explained.

And another memory. His first day in prison he had another of those peculiar dreams that he had during those days. The ones involving some Galbadian soldiers named Ward, Kiros and Laguna. Ellone had been the daughter of a woman named Raine who Laguna looked after while he stayed in the town of Winhill.

"Ellone, sir?" Squall asked.

"She is a student here at Garden. Charming girl. But during the attack she was knocked into a coma and hasn't yet awoken," Cid nodded.

Pieces seemed to fall together in Squall's mind. But no, it was crazy. How could a person induce dreams in others?

"We have kept her safe, and we don't know why the sorceress wants her, but all we know is that she won't get her," Cid nodded. "Now, all of you. The mission ahead is going to be exceedingly dangerous. We are attacking a superior force that has every advantage over us. So far our only advantage is the element of surprise."

"We're Seed," Zell said. "Fighting impossible wars is our job."

"Yes, but our mercenary days are over. Now we fight our common foe for the first time in recorded history. We will eliminate the Sorceress and liberate the world," Cid said. "Head to the barracks and get some rest. In a week, our counter-attack begins."


	8. Chapter 7: Dark Garden

Chapter Seven: Dark Garden

March 14, 2 G.E.

Squall and the others spent the next week on Level 2, the second highest unit of Dark Garden. A special dormitory was prepared for them within a day. Cid made it clear that he wanted them to rest and recover, but it was hardly a vacation.

Dr. Kadowaki insisted on a full physical of everybody within the first 24 hours of their arrival. This was, in the main, fairly straightforward. Everybody except Squall and Raurk passed with flying colors.

Raurk's arm had suffered a decrease in circulation as the bullet lodged there had partially obstructed a major blood vessel.

"As it is that can cause blood clots and eventually shut off circulation completely. If it had remained like that for much longer I would have had to amputate the entire limb," Dr. Kadowaki insisted.

The surgery was relatively short and painless. There was some post-op pain but Raurk never complained about it. Once in a while Squall would see him twitch his triceps agitatedly but that was it.

As for Squall, Dr. Kadowaki was far more disturbed.

"You've suffered a great deal in prison," Dr. Kadowaki sighed. "Your muscles have suffered extensive damage and your brain waves are highly erratic. I would guess you've been suffering nightmares and perhaps even hallucinations?"

"Nightmares certainly. No hallucinations that I know of," Squall replied.

Dr. Kadowaki nodded grimly. "You can never be sure. I'm surprised you are able to lift a gunblade. It will be a while before you're back up to your old fighting standard. You may want to spend a little time in the gym."

And that was exactly what Squall had in mind. For the next week he spent three hours a day in the gym, much more than the hour that Dr. Kadowaki recommended. He also went out to the mountainside with Zell and Quistis on occasion.

Selphie had chosen a more magic-oriented workout. While she still did aerobics and cardio to boost her endurance, she also spent an hour a day meditating and Squall saw her every morning on the mountainside doing yoga with a team of battlemages.

Zone and Watts spent their week absorbing data from any channels they could find. Watts had met with more than a few Galbadian soldiers down in Balamb Town and Zone used the terminals in Dark Garden to look up every drop of information he could think of.

Irvine hadn't lost his vigor, having been a free man these past two years. He spent his time in the Level 2 armory piecing together mods and upgrades for his rifle. Squall walked in on him one night and could have sworn Irvine was adding a grenade launcher component to his sidearm. Squall sincerely hoped his experiments were being monitored and sanctioned by the requisitions officer.

On the sixth day, the entire team was called into Cid's Office for a briefing. Squall had just come off a workout, and everybody else seemed to have something interrupted for this briefing. This was an odd occurrence.

"I know I promised you all a week," Cid sighed. He looked at them all at attention. "Um, at ease people."

They were none too slow to obey this order.

"But something has come up," Cid wheeled forward from behind his desk. "Your escape has fueled rumors that SeeD may still be out there somewhere. The Galbadian military is mobilizing for a global search and destroy. The time for action is now."

Squall liked the sound of this new, decisive Cid.

"We are launching the counter-attack."

And with this Zell, Irvine and Raurk exclaimed.

"Now this is not quite as glamorous as you might expect. At the moment we have three missions and they must go off together, which means you will be split up into teams," Cid explained. "Ah that reminds me."

Cid rolled backwards and pressed the button on the desk intercom. "SeeD members in Unit 7 please head up to my office immediately."

"Unit 7?" Irvine asked.

"A Spec Ops unit. The best of the best. Ah that was quick," Cid nodded in the direction of the door.

It seemed as though this unit had been waiting for this call just outside the door. In walked five additional SeeDs, one of whom Squall recognized.

"Major Xu?" Squall asked.

Xu nodded back at Squall. "Actually Colonel now. SeeD Rank 18."

Squall saluted her. "Congratulations, ma'am."

"Thank you, Captain," Xu returned the salute.

The other four were tough looking young men, all Captains. Zell and Quistis introduced one as Nida, a soldier who had passed the SeeD exam with Squall, but he had no memory of him.

"Yes. Colonel Xu, and Captains Nida, Jenson, Cole and Fabian comprise Unit 7. So far, however, they have merely been training for the big day. Now we get to see them in action," Cid explained.

Selphie raised her hand. "Sir, with all due respect if you've already got these tough guys why do you want us too?"

Cid chuckled. "Seems a bit pointless eh? Well you all have unique inside experience into Galbadian life. The fact is we've been shut off from the outside world for almost a year and a half."

_It sucked then and it sucks now, _Squall thought. But he awaited his orders.

"Anyways there are three simultaneous missions that are going to be executed. I have selected the members of each squad and their squad leaders based on attributes they possess, so I don't want any complaining," Cid chuckled.

"First operation is fairly straightforward. Operation Cold Snap."

A slide appeared on the screen behind Cid's desk. It showed the ruins of Trabia Garden. "We have been unable to launch a rescue mission to the Trabia Garden for fear of exposing ourselves. However at this point it seems a tad moot. We do know through our contacts that a small hive of Trabia Garden soldiers have been hiding in the Trabia Canyon, so I recommend you start there."

Cid opened a small folder and began to read.

"When I call your names form into your own Squad, understood?" Cid explained. "First, I have chosen Captain Cole and Captain Fabian because of their excellent tracking skill. They are natural hunters and their skills could come in handy in this frozen environment.

"Next is Lt. Tilmitt," Selphie blushed and nodded appreciatively. "Obviously she has a vested interest in this mission as a transfer from Trabia, plus she knows the terrain better.

"Finally I'll be sending Colonel Xu along as the Squad Leader. She can drive the transport vessel and is familiar with Trabian flora and fauna."

The four arranged themselves in a Squad on the right side of the room.

"Next up is Operation Broken Wing," Cid nodded. "The Galbadian Military has a missile base that is more than capable of hitting any target in the world. But it is one of a kind. If we eliminate this base, we completely knock out their long range attack effectiveness."

"That base is heavily guarded and damn near impossible to infiltrate, sir," Irvine said cautiously.

"Precisely. Which is why I am making you the Squad Leader of this assignment, Major Kinneas," Cid said.

There was a bit of a quaking amongst the group. Never in the history of the military had a Sergeant been promoted straight to a Major, much less a commander of an elite Special Operations team.

"I realize this new assignment might seem unorthodox but I have to do it," Cid explained. "Under you will be Zell, Raurk, Dent, Nida and Jenson. Your job is simple. Eliminate the base in any way you can. Infiltration method and C.O.A. I leave to the good Major."

There was a certain finality in Cid's tone as though he could tell the others feeling somehow betrayed, but that his word was still the law. All things considered, Squall understood why he had made this decision. Even if we was an assigned squad leader higher ranking soldiers would be able to tamper and undermine his command. His power had to be absolute. It was still dangerous though.

"Captain Leonhart, I am promoting you as well. Also to Major," Cid nodded.

Squall saluted. "Thank you, sir."

Cid shook his head. "Far less outlandish as my other promotion but also necessary. You will be the squad leader for Operation Fallen Angel."

Squall nodded. "And this mission is?"

"Rinoa is essential to our further plans. Her position as the general's daughter is vital," Cid explained.

"You mean to take her as a hostage?" Squall asked.

Cid shook his head. "She has information and connections that we need. You, Zone, Watts and Quistis are going back to Deling City to retrieve her."

"Listen to me," Cid now rolled directly in front of the three groups that now stood side-by-side. "It is essential that the insertion, execution and completion of these missions happen at essentially the same time. This is 'shock and awe' people. Gather any supplies that you think that you might need and head down to the docks on Level 6. Move."


	9. Chapter 8: Collateral Damage

Chapter VIII: Collateral Damage

**Operation Cold Snap  
**_Day 1, 1400 Hours (March 13, 2 G.E.)_  
_Location: Galbadian Port, Bika Snowfield, Trabia_

Captain Cole lifted his shotgun and slowly crawled along the beach head towards the Galbadian Port. He had been sent ahead to clear the path for the landing vessel. The swim had done him good, and the rubber underwater gear had protected him from the harsh climate. That being said, he did not like how much it constricted his range of movement.

Cole was a methodical man. He would never engage an enemy unless it was absolutely necessary. Stealth was something he was an expert in. He was, perhaps, the only person in the world to fit a silencing mechanism onto a shotgun. He had a silenced pistol strapped to his side, but he didn't think he'd need to use it.

Xu and Selphie had remained in the transport vessel about two kilometers away. With the thick blizzard, there was no way an enemy sentry would be able to see them. Captain Fabian had also been deployed with him but was providing sniper cover from a nearby ridge. He had a thermal scope on his weapon which should make it easy to spot the enemy.

Fabian and Cole got along well enough. They both preferred to use guns to the unusual weapon choices some SeeD members preferred. They were both experts in infiltration and stealth, often working as a team. Both were familiar with the Trabian terrain. Fabian's only difference was that he preferred to be in a command or observatory position over the actual grunt work. Cole didn't mind this; Fabian was very good at what he did. Besides, more fun for him.

The port was a simple three dock concrete structure with one main hangar and a few guard posts on all sides. Cole's mission was simple. Quietly take down any and all opposition.

"Okay listen up Cole," Fabian said over his radio. "I see two sentries directly in front of you. Let me take them down then head to that guard post."

The howling wind covered the tiny pop of the silenced sniper rifle, and Fabian's two shots were perfect. A small shatter of the guard window was the only sound they heard; the guards made no sound as their corpses hit the ground. Cole moved up and entered the guard post.

"Okay, check out the manifest. Any ships due in today?" Fabian ordered.

Cole sat down at the terminal and opened up the ships manifest. That was where they discovered their first problem.

"Shit. Fabian there are three ships of search and destroy troops coming into this port in half an hour," Cole said.

"S&D troops? Is Galbadia onto us?" Fabian asked.

"Nope," Cole replied. "Looks like they're under the impression that we're hiding out in the Trabia Garden ruins."

"Either way that's gonna present a problem. Let's finish this job quick. Colonel Xu are you hearing this?"

"Copy that. We'll have to scuttle our transport and commandeer another transport home," Xu replied. "Finish the job."

"Okay. Cole, I'm moving down the ridge. You're gonna be without sniper support for about three minutes," Fabian replied. "Head to the hangar."

Cole reached into his satchel and planted a small plastic explosive under the base of the guard post. He then raised his shotgun and moved back out into the blizzard. He heard the sound of at least four pairs of feet moving in his direction, crunching the soft powder with each of their hasty footsteps. Cole ducked behind a truck and glanced underneath as four pairs of black boots rushed past in the direction of the guard post.

"Fabian, they're checking out the guard post. Things might get a little ugly out here," Cole whispered into his microphone.

"I'm in position now. You rush up behind them and I'll take the guys in the front," Fabian ordered.

"Yeah, just try not to hit me," Cole replied as he rushed silently behind the troops.

It was over in a flash. One blast from Cole's shotgun took the two rear troops down and the leader was downed at the exact same moment with a perfectly timed sniper shot from Fabian. The second turned and shot at Cole with a pistol, but he ducked behind a box as Fabian took him down with a second shot.

"Okay, well that probably alerted them," Cole sighed.

"Yeah. I see about six more headed your way. Bypass them and get into the hangar now."

"Right."

Cole ran down the dockside through the howling gales as he heard footsteps to his right moving towards the guard outpost. He ran behind the truck and then veered off to the right towards the large hangar.

"Easy, easy!" Fabian called. "There's two right in front of you, about twenty yards."

The wind and snow made it almost impossible to see them, but Cole did with some squinting. They were wearing white camouflage uniforms and moving slowly. Their heads were covered with the standard Galbadian battle helmet and they carried large swords.

"I think I can take them," Cole replied.

"Don't. We're almost out of time. Veer to the left behind those crates," Fabian ordered.

Cole sighed and moved around the large metal crates. He held his breath as the two soldiers walked past him on the other side of the crates not three feet from him.

"Damn it. Cole, those other six are heading your way. They must be following your footprints," Fabian called.

Cole had to bite his tongue to keep from shouting an obscenity. He planted a small plastic explosive on the back side of the crate and then rushed ahead into the hangar.

"Why did you do that?" Fabian asked. "That's not one of the targets."

"I've got a plan," Cole replied.

The hangar was barren except for one soldier who was observing the security monitors with seemingly little interest. Cole shot him down before he could even turn his chair and then planted two more explosives on the underside of the hangar terminals.

"We're all set here, get ready to move in," Cole ordered as he ran out of the hangar and up the snowy embankment towards Fabian.

Fabian had been given the trigger to the explosives, in case something went wrong. This was what Cole had morbidly referred to as "the other plan" in the briefing. Once Cole was only a few feet from him he pressed the trigger and watched the chaos through his sniper scope.

The six guards that pursued Cole were standing right next to the metal crate at the time the explosives went off and were subsequently killed from the blast. The hangar fell apart, the roof of the guard shack imploded from the force of the plastic bomb and all that remained of the port was two docks, a guard outpost and the two bewildered camo soldiers who Fabian quickly dispatched.

"Xu, pull into the harbor. The area is secure," Cole said.


	10. Chapter 9: We Pay By The Hour

Chapter IX: We Pay By The Hour

**Operation Broken Wing**

Day 1, 1800 Hours (March 13, 2 G.E.)

Location: Galbadian Missile Base, Deling District, Galbadia

The APC was still in decent condition when it was recovered at Timber. Driving it across the mountains and through the dense woods had roughed it up a bit though. Nida, Jenson and Zell hid in the back of the APC. Nida clung to a sword for dear life (or so it seemed), and Jenson was making adjustments to his silenced pistol.

Raurk and Dent, who were in the guise of being Galbadian soldiers (not being above using a good trick twice) sat up front next to Irvine who drove. Irvine had spent most of the drive giving them a crash course in Galbadian military protocol.

"So you three are going to infiltrate the base disguised as Galadian troops. Us three are going to dress up as maintenance workers and make our way to the silo control. How hard is it to blow up a base filled with missiles?" Zell asked.

"Listen, security is tight as hell around that place, even now with Galbadia convinced that they have complete control over the world. We're going to have to play this smart," Irvine said. "We'll wait until we're all assigned an identical shift and then set our plan into action."

"And remind me of the plan again?" Zell asked.

"Us soldiers are going to get into the main control room and locate the self-destruct mechanism. But that could be a while. You guys are going to the silo launch pad and are going to tamper with the targeting system so that their accuracy will be hindered should they launch missiles," Irvine explained.

"Foolproof," Dent sighed.

"Shouldn't Dent be on my team though?" Zell asked. "I mean you're good with computers right?"

"Zell, you said yourself there's nobody keener on machines than you, right?" Raurk chuckled.

"Yeah, but it's always good to have a second set of eyes," Zell shrugged.

"The self-destruct mechanism isn't a big glowing red button," Irvine said. "Dent's computer skills will be needed there."

"That makes sense," Zell nodded.

"Hey, here we are. Keep quiet," Irvine said.

The APC slowed to halt and soldiers began investigating the machine. They checked everybody in the front seat, asked Irvine a few routine questions, but this was done more out of formality considering it had been Irvine who had rented out this very APC.

The guards waved them through and they drove into the Missile Base.

"Didn't think I'd actually return this APC," Irvine chuckled.

"How do you do it, man?" Nida asked.

Irvine parked the APC. "What do you mean?"

"You know… hell I imagine you're probably friends with some of the people who we're going to kill today," Nida said empathetically.

"That's right," Irvine said simply. He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door. The others got out right behind them. Nida did not press the issue.

A large man wearing an officers uniform walked up to Irvine. "Hey, are these those contractors you mentioned?"

Irvine nodded. "Yes sir. They're civilians, but they've worked with 323rd before."

"I don't like the idea of civilian contractors working with my missiles," The officer grunted. "What possessed you to do this Sergant?"

"As part of my commission I am allowed to recruit civilian contractors if I deem it necessary. They'll only be working with the SRBMs, I just want to see if they can bring anything new to the table," Irvine explained.

Zell was impressed. Irvine had always played the cool guy, but in the mission two years ago he had shown that acting under pressure was not his strong suit. And yet here he was spinning a lie and making it sound so casual and easy.

"Okay then. They don't work on the floor and I don't want them whiffing around my LRBMs you got that?" The officer demanded.

"Yes sir. They'll be gone by the end of the week too, this is just a trial run," Irvine nodded.

The officer nodded, seemingly satisfied with Irvine's words. He walked back towards the base proper. A younger looking soldier handed them all identification cards.

"You need these to get in the base," the soldier said before returning to his duties.

"Okay," Irvine said and Zell could tell that from this point forward the show had begun. "You guys have worked with the 323rd Maintenance Division, so you know the protocols. Head to the terminal room and start running your tests on the Short Range Ballistic Missiles only! I expect some results too, I'm putting my career on the line here."

"Not a problem," Zell nodded. Jenson and Nida followed behind him as they wandered towards the base. Two soldiers escorted them inside the massive base.

The interior looked more like a power plant than a military base. A large generator was whirring in the background and the occasional zap of electricity surged through it, making the lights flare for a moment.

The two soldiers dropped them off at a large room filled with computers and a view of the power generator.

"If you need anything let one of us know, but you're not allowed to go any further than this," a young private explained.

They shut the door and Jenson, Nida and Zell were finally alone.

"Well we can't get anywhere near where we need to be to do our job," Zell whispered, and he cursed under his breath. "Let's just see if these terminals do the trick."

**Operation Fallen Angel**

Day 1, 1830 Hours (March 13, 2 G.E.)

Location: Deling City Sewers, Deling District, Galbadia

Less than one hundred miles from Irvine and the others, Squall, Quistis, Zone and Watts were ankle-deep in sewage. They had been dispatched from a similar vessel to the one that Xu was now piloting in Trabia. They set it ashore near a sewage outlet and were amazed to find this crucial weakpoint of the city completely unguarded.

"Maybe they didn't think anybody would want to walk through this crap," Zone cursed, holding his nose.

"Quistis," Squall said turning to her. "It's your show from here. Does anything look familiar?"

Quistis pointed at a small water wheel. "That looks like the one that was underneath the Gateway. Which means…"

She looked around at the series of concrete tunnels and metal gates. She pointed down a seemingly random tunnel.

"It's that way," Quistis nodded.

"You are sure?" Squall asked.

Quistis nodded and took the lead.

The trickling of water almost masked their footsteps as they crept through the labyrinthine sewer system Quistis raised her hand at one intersection. She looked around the corner and saw two teenage boys sitting in against the wall. One of them was perusing a _Girl Next Door _and the other was casually smoking a cigarette.

"Heh," Quistis chuckled. She turned back to Squall. She put her finger over her lips then pointed to the ground and then off to the opposite tunnel of where the boys now chatted loudly.

The three men behind her crouched down and slowly moved around the corner, away from the boys. When they reached the next intersection, Quistis leaned against the wall and tried to get her bearings.

"Do we get derailed by enemy soldiers or monsters? No, we get derailed by horny teenagers," Quistis sighed. "I'm guessing we'll have to take a roundabout method."

"That tunnel was the one, wasn't it?" Squall asked.

"Yes." Quistis sighed. "I'm sure of it. That would have put us right in Caraway's living room. But we can't risk being seen."

"We could always take them out," Squall suggested.

"Kill two teenagers?" Quistis asked, appalled.

"No, but we can knock them out until the job is done," Squall said.

"You guys are overthinking this," Zone sighed. He ran back towards the kids and put his hands around his mouth. Before Squall or Quistis could do anything to stop him he shouted. "Hey boss! I see two kids right here! Hey punks get your asses over here!"

The kids scurried down the passage Quistis and Squall had come from, one shouting obscenities at the other for having brought him down here.

"Because that won't compromise our mission at all," Squall hissed sarcastically.

"Please, who are the kids gonna tell? They think they're in trouble," Zone replied calmly. This mock bravado did not impress Squall who saw him ever so slightly reach for his stomach. Stomachaches were his tell-all for nerves.

"Let's just do this. Remember we're not here to have a pleasant chat with General Caraway or Rinoa. We're here to take down any opposition, capture Rinoa and return to our transport. Anybody else in that mansion is expendable except the General. Stick to non-lethal takedowns," Squall ordered, raising his gunblade.

"We're kidnapping the person we're trying to save?" Watts asked, scratching his head.

"Think of it that way, I don't want us to get derailed again," Squall said.

They moved towards the stairwell that lead up into General Caraway's house. Quistis took a deep breath and turned the door handle.


	11. Chapter 10: Security Deposit

Chapter X: Security Deposit

**Operation Cold Snap**

Day 1, 2130 Hours (March 13, 2 G.E.)

Location: Trabia Garden Ruins, Bika Snowfield, Trabia

Cole, Fabian, Selphie and Xu moved slowly through the snow. Their white rubber and polyvinyl combat suits protected them wonderfully from the cold, but as Cole had complained of earlier, made their movements tighter.

Selphie clasped the handle of her oversized nunchaku, and even through her gloves it seemed like sweat was covering it. She was not sure she wanted to know what they were going to find here.

The massive ruins, charred black with exhaust and decay, towered above them. Selphie couldn't help but look away, even though she wanted to. Xu patted her shoulder and moved forward, raising her knife.

"Colonel," Fabian whispered. "Perhaps Cole and I should scout ahead first?"

He looked back at Selphie who he could see, even through the protective goggles they wore, had a look of terrible despair in her eyes.

"We've had you do enough of the footwork already. We're all going," Xu said. She looked back at Selphie. "Come on. Remember, there are survivors at Trabia Canyon, this is just a simple recovery mission. We'll go in, grab what we need, and get out of here in no time, okay?"

Selphie nodded and moved up. She leapt onto a metal fence and hopped over it. The others followed behind her.

"What are we grabbing here?" Cole asked.

"Just double-checking for survivors. If you see any useable equipment take it," Xu ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Fabian nodded.

Both he and Cole could tell that the only reason they had stopped here was to give Selphie closure. A noble gesture, but it set them further from completing their goal and the Galbadian pursuit was likely to be close on their tail.

Selphie stopped in the center of what used to be the courtyard. She looked off to her right and ran towards it.

"Selphie!" Xu shouted, running after her.

Selphie had found a massive graveyard. Hundreds of buried bodies with makeshift headstones scattered the ground. With every glance, Selphie recognized a name, or saw a face in her head. She knelt on the ground and closed her eyes.

"Selphie," Xu sighed, leaning down beside her. "Remember, there are still some people alive. We'll give you ten minutes, but that's all the time we can spare, okay? The enemy is still behind us."

Selphie nodded. Xu walked away.

"You know guys," Selphie said, patting on one of the headstones. "I never got to put on that concert. But I will, I promise you. I'll survive this just so that you can see my concert, okay?"

Over near the courtyard Fabian was scouting the horizon with his sniper rifle.

"Anything?" Cole asked.

"Nothing, it's dead. Maybe the Galbadians are cleaning house first. Odds are they won't pursue until they have better intel. That alone might have bought us an hour," Fabian shrugged. "Either way we should get a move on to Trabia Canyon. We need to secure the survivors and then find some way to get them all home."

"I've been thinking about just that," Xu nodded. "Obviously we can't walk to Balamb, and the only port is occupied by the Galbadians. We need air support."

"You're not asking much are you, Colonel?" Cole quipped.

"I realize it's probably impossible, but from the Canyon we might be able to hold down an LZ," Xu said. "Of course Dark Garden only has a few air vessels and whether or not they'll want to risk them to save our asses is questionable."

"Okay," came a timid voice from behind. They turned to see Selphie. She had taken off her goggles and was wiping her eyes. She slowly replaced them and nodded to Xu. "I'm ready to go."

"Are you sure?" Xu asked. "We won't be coming back here for a very long time."

"I'm sure," Selphie nodded. "We still have a mission to do."

"Hey!" Fabian snapped. "Eyes forward!"

Xu, Selphie and Cole crouched down. Xu pulled out a pair of binoculars from her pack and looked in the direction Fabian was pointing. There was a Galbadian troop transport that looked like an overgrown snowmobile. Two heavy infantry units were escorting it on either side.

"One truck? It's a recon team," Fabian pondered for a moment. "We might be able to take them out. I figure eight assault units inside the truck, the driver and those two guards. That's eleven. Three for each of us."

"Could be a decoy. I'm gonna check our flank," Cole said, rushing up towards a basketball court to get a better view.

"Those are some tough odds right there, Captain. Is it worth giving away our position?" Xu asked.

"With all due respect ma'am, they know somebody's here," Fabian replied.

"Somebody, not us," Xu retorted.

"So we take them down quick and easy and they never know what killed them. Easy as pie," Fabian said.

"Our flank is clear," Cole whispered returning. "It's just a recon team then. So are we engaging?"

Xu looked over at Selphie, whose eyes were burning with bloodlust.

"Alright. Let's get them. Fabian let us get into position and then provide sniper support," she leaned up against him and under the guise of patting him on the shoulder she whispered. "Keep your eyes on Selphie, her battle effectiveness is compromised right now."

Fabian nodded.

Selphie, Xu and Cole crept through the snow towards the approaching transport.

"Listen, they're not going to see us coming with our suits. We're invisible. Cole and I will pop up and take out the side guards. Fabian snipe the driver. Then we all move towards the back to take out the guards inside the truck," Xu ordered.

The affirmative echoed back to her on her radio. Xu sat on the left flank of the vehicle, mostly obscured by the snow. The transport came closer and closer. The soldiers footsteps moved mere yards from her. Feet away. Inches.

"Now!" She shouted, jumping up and sticking her knife in the throat of the soldier. Cole's shotgun smashed through the chest of the opposite guard as Fabian's sniper round hit the driver in the head. Selphie popped up on the far side of Xu and rushed towards the back.

"What the hell?" Cole shouted. He had already made it behind the truck. "Shit! Abort!"

"What's going on, Cole?" Xu shouted, moving away from the truck.

Suddenly the truck burst into flames.

"What the hell?" Fabian shouted over the radio. "Is that a bomb?"

"No! It's worse!" Cole shouted.

A large red dragon jumped out of the back of the truck. Its long black head and small beady eyes cast around in the snow, looking for its prey.

"Another damned monster!" Selphie cursed. "What the hell is going on?"

"I'm moving in. My sniper rifle can't put a dent in that dragon hide!" Fabian replied.

"Negative," Xu said. "I see a weakpoint, but you probably won't like it."

"Give it to me!" Fabian shouted.

"It's eyes and mouth. Any chance you can hit them?" Xu asked, as she ducked out of the way of the dragon's tail swipe.

"Jeez Colonel, you really _don't _ask for too much do you?" Fabian cursed.

"Can you hit it?" Xu asked.

"If you can get that dragon to stay still for a moment or two, maybe. Keep him pointed towards me!" Fabian replied.

Selphie jumped over the back of the dragon and swung her nunchaku around the neck of the dragon. She hung onto each end as the dragon tried to break the grasp, shaking and spitting flame in every direction.

Cole ducked under the tail and shot three blasts from his shotgun. The dragon knocked him back with a swipe from one of his talons.

"Damn it!" Cole shouted.

"Cole, what's wrong?" Xu asked.

"My arm's busted!" Cole cursed.

Even through the blizzard conditions and the night air Xu could see Cole's left arm dangling uselessly from his side.

"Find some cover, Cole, you're no longer any use in this fight," Xu ordered.

And then the shots echoed over the night. Fabian had removed his silencer, likely to increase the penetration, and two shots smashed through the dragon's eye and nasal cavity.

The dragon collapsed but was not quite dead yet.

"Monsters, eh?" Cole asked, moving towards the dragon.

"Don't get too close. These monsters they breed have some kind of special power. They can make things disappear…" Selphie sighed.

The dragon's eyes saw the limbing body of one of the Galbadian soldiers and they glowed black. The guard seemed to vanish into nothingness, but this was the last action the dragon could perform before it succumbed to its wounds.

"An enemy that can just… erase you? That shouldn't be possible," Fabian shivered moving up to the others.

"That's another thing to go onto my list of nightmares," Xu cursed. "Come on. We'll have time to file a report later. We need to get to Trabia Canyon now."


	12. Chapter 11: Maybe You'd Like It Back

Chapter XI: Maybe You'd Like It Back In Your Cell

**Operation Broken Wing**

Day 1, 2030 Hours (March 13, 2 G.E.)

Location: Galbadia Missile Base, Deling District, Galbadia

Jenson and Zell had been working for the past several hours. They had only been interrupted once by a guard who rather politely asked them if they would like some dinner, which he then provided in the form of three plastic wrapped MREs.

"It's better than nothing," Zell commented, taking a bite out of the slightly stale bread.

"Okay, I think I may have found something," Jenson said.

Nida and Zell moved over to his terminal.

"We don't have to go out to the silos to altar the targeting ratio. It can be done wirelessly using a terminal outside the missile storage room," Jenson explained. "But whether or not we can actually get that far is a different story."

"Yeah, they said we can't go any further inside than this," Nida nodded. "Should we ask Irvine to do it?"

"What we need is a distraction," Zell sighed. He looked out the window at the power generator. "Do you think it's possible to cause that thing to go offline?"

"Why?" Jenson asked.

"Because they might call on us resident 'scientists' to try and get it operational. And while we're in the neighborhood we could tamper with the terminal," Zell explained.

"That's very risky," Jenson grunted. "We'll need to coordinate with-"

At that moment Irvine, Raurk and Dent walked into the room.

"Just checking on our investment boys," Irvine said, shutting the door and leaning down beside Zell. "What have you got?"

"The targeting computer isn't on the silo, it's next to the storage room. It's all done wirelessly nowadays," Jenson explained.

"Okay, well you guys can't get that far and I think it'd be obvious if we started toying with it," Irvine stroked his chin.

"Could we get a diversion?" Raurk asked.

"Actually I was thinking if we shut down the power generator from here there should be enough chaos to provide a little cover," Zell noted.

"Okay, well we've also discovered the self-destruct mechanism. It's in the missile command center. If we're gonna hit all three of these at once things will get chaotic," Irvine grunted. "Jenson stay here and give us all about five minutes to get into position. Cut the power. I'll lead Dent and Zell to the targeting computer and the rest of us will wait in the command center. Raurk, Nida and I will take out the Base Commander and set the timer for ten minutes. When you hear that alarm go off, get back to the APC."

"Are you sure you've thought this through?" Jenson asked.

"As much as we possibly can," Irvine sighed. "We don't have a lot of options here and if we don't shut down their missiles soon they're gonna launch some more at Trabia. Apparently Selphie's team caused a bit of ruckus for them."

"Damn it, man, you should have said that from the start," Zell exclaimed.

"So, are we ready?" Raurk asked.

"Okay!" Jenson said. "I'll give you five minutes then I'm cutting the power."

**Operation Fallen Angel**

Day 1, 2030 Hours (March 13, 2 G.E.)

Location: Caraway Mansion, Deling City, Deling District, Galbadia

The mansion was quiet and dark. That was quite unnerving to the group who had expected some hostility.

"Perhaps the General is out, or else went to bed early?" Zone asked.

"That's immaterial. Watch your corners and move towards Rinoa's bedroom. Watts, lead the way," Squall ordered.

"Yes sir," Watts nodded.

Watts crept up an ornate flight of stairs. The amount of open space in the mansion was hazardous to the mission. There were too many places for enemies to pop out from. There was too little cover for them. They were sitting ducks.

At the top of the stairs, Watts pointed to the right and moved towards a gold-framed door. A silver placard had the ornate lettering of the name RINOA on the door.

"I think she's in there," Watts whispered.

Quistis sighed. "Breach and clear?"

Squall nodded, moving towards one side of the door with his gunblade clasped tightly in his right hand. Zone and Watts sighed and moved to the other side. Quistis, in one swift motion, bashed open the door.

Rinoa was sitting at a terminal. As Quistis broke through the door, she leapt up in shock. Quistis wrapped her arm around Rinoa's chest as the three men entered the room.

"No hostiles. It's clear," Squall nodded.

"What's going on?" Rinoa exclaimed.

"This is a rescue mission," Zone said boldly.

"Some rescue," Rinoa sighed. "You break down my door and scare the life out of me. You couldn't have knocked?"

"We don't have time for this now. You need to come with us," Squall ordered.

Rinoa raised her eyebrow. "Oh really? I didn't need to be rescued. There are no guards stationed here, I'm not being held here against my will. I am welcome to leave the house, even the city at any time I like."

"Sorry about the intrusion, but we didn't know any of that," Quistis explained.

"I understand that. But now that you do, how about you slow down a little and tell me what's going on? I haven't seen you guys in two years and our first meeting is like this?"

Squall put his face to his palm. "We'll have plenty of time to catch-up later. We have to get-"

"My father won't be home for another hour at least. There's a fete at the Presidential Palace with Sorceress Edea. Something about a strategy meeting with all the Generals," Rinoa said.

"Actually your father won't be coming home at all," came a voice from behind them.

They turned to the broken in doorway to see a face that had haunted Squall's sleep for two years. The arrogant smirk, the sandy trenchcoat. The crew cut blonde hair.

"Seifer!" Squall shouted, raising his gunblade and rushing at him.

Seifer put up a hand and knocked him back casually with a ball of dark red fire.

"Now that's a familiar sight," Seifer chuckled. "As I was saying, Rinoa. The Sorceress is well aware of your fathers anti-state activity. And yours. In a matter of minutes he will have his last meal."

"No!" Rinoa shouted.

"I could have persuaded the Sorceress to pardon him, if you hadn't rejected my offer last year," Seifer smiled. "I guess you learn a little too late."

"Pathetic," Quistis scoffed.

"Ah, instructor Trepe. How good to see you again. Did you ever think your promising student would become the new General of all Galbadian forces?" Seifer laughed.

"An arrogant fool gone blind with imaginary power? Yes, absolutely," Quistis spit.

Seifer chuckled. "What I would like to know is what a pack of prisoners expects to do against the Sorceress. Or… do you think we haven't discovered about your little hidey hole yet?"

Squall got up off the ground. "What are you-?"

"Dark Garden. You see the team in Trabia did a bit of damage. We managed to review the logs from the vessel that they tried to sink and within mere hours we had all the information we needed. Granted we only got a rough location, but soon teams will be sweeping Balamb for your little pet project."

Squall saw his opening and took it, he grabbed the chair next to Rinoa's desk and smashed it towards Seifer. He cut it in two with his gunblade, but not before Squall had begun a charge. He knocked Seifer down against the balcony with his gunblade at Seifer's throat.

"What are you gonna do now, Squall?" Seifer laughed. "Kill me?"

And in a flash of white light Seifer disappeared.

"What the hell?" Quistis exclaimed. "He can teleport?"

Suddenly they heard a loud explosion. They looked out the window and saw a large mushroom cloud hanging high over where the Galbadian Missile Base had been.

"Well it looks like Operation Broken Wing is a success," Zone laughed. He got on his radio. "Wing Team, are you there? Can you hear me?"

There was no answer. Nothing but static.

"Wing Team, come in!" Zone gasped. "There's no response. I'm not even getting standard feedback from their communication device."

Quistis put her hands over her mouth and Watts took off his cap in a sort of salute.

"We don't have time for this right now," Squall barked. "We have to get Rinoa to Dark Garden and warn them about the impending attack right away."

"What about my father?" Rinoa demanded.

"He's already dead," Squall said coolly.

"There might still be a chance to save him!" Rinoa insisted. "I won't go unless we help him first."

"The manner of your transport is the only decision you have to make, Rinoa. Our orders were to retrieve you no matter what the cost," Squall said.

"Squall," Quistis began, her voice sympathetic. "It's not too far and General Caraway can provide us with key intelligence. I can send a warning back to Dark Garden via the radio, but we really should try."

Squall folded his arms and sighed. "Zone and Watts return to the vessel, prep the ship for a fast take-off. Rinoa as clearly nothing I say matters you are free to either come with us or return to the ship, I don't care what you choose, but make a decision and fast."


	13. Chapter 12: A Chip In Your Pile

Chapter XII: A Chip In Your Pile

**Operation Cold Snap**

Day 1 2330 Hours (March 13, 2 G.E.)

Location: Trabia Canyon, Trabia Crater Area, Trabia

Fabian had found some unused snowmobiles in the Trabia Garden garage, and the group used them as their escape vehicles. Selphie and Fabian had their own, Cole sat side-straddle behind Xu, clutching onto her with his good arm.

The site that met them at Trabia Canyon was pathetic. A huddled group of people around small fires and makeshift tents, struggling to survive the harsh climates. People walked around draped in survival blankets and the four guards blocking the way to the canyon seemed as though they hadn't slept in days.

"You guys are with SeeD?" The first guard exclaimed. "Thank god! I don't think we'd have lasted much longer."

"Where's Amy?" Selphie demanded. "She's still alive right?"

"Selphie? Is that you?" The second guard asked. "Thank goodness you're okay!"

"I feel terrible," Selphie cursed. "I should have been here to help."

"It wouldn't have done any good," the first guard replied. "Even the best of the best didn't make it out of that hell. Amy is fine. She's on the second tier of the canyon."

And with that Selphie rushed on ahead and up the switchbacks to find her friend.

"So, uh, not to look a gift horse in the mouth but how are we going to all get out of here? There are about seventy of us and we won't fit on those snowmobiles," the second guard asked, trying to seem jovial but clearly concerned.

"We had a vessel but we had to scrap it. Galbadia was following right behind us," Xu explained.

"Galbadia?" The third guard demaned. "But then they'll follow you guys here! And we have no way to escape!"

"There's a port on the far side of the crater. Another Galbadian operation. We'll just sneak out the way we came in. But your people will have to march," Xu ordered.

"March? With all due respect, ma'am, these people aren't marching anywhere. I'm surprised some of them are standing. We've got sick, injured, and half-starved," the first guard explained. "I'm only working this shift because they've been giving us full rations. We need a better way."

Xu folded her arms and seemed annoyed. "Well fine then. We can see if Dark Garden can send us air support, but I doubt it. I'm hiking to the top of the Canyon. I'll need it to get a better radio signal."

"It's about four hours to the top of this thing on foot," the third guard commented.

"Well I can't go back out there, that crater keeps jamming my radio signal," Xu explained. "So I'm hiking up. Give my men some rations, I'll be back before dawn,"

Xu began to hike up the treacherous switchbacks, stopping on the second level up to see Selphie still locked in an embrace with a young girl about her age. The survivors of Trabia Garden ended at the third tier up and beyond the sixth, she could barely hear anything except the howling wind.

**Operation Fallen Angel**

Day 1 2100 Hours (March 13, 2 G.E.)

Location: Presidential Palace, Deling City, Deling District, Galbadia

Squall, Rinoa and Quistis ran through the alleyways of Deling City, constantly altering their route to avoid Galbadian patrols. This became more of an issue as they reached the main gate to the Presidential Palace.

"How are we getting in there?" Quistis asked.

Squall looked at the situation. An entire platoon of Galbadian soldiers guarded the walls and grounds of the palace. This was a hopeless endeavor.

"We can't sneak by them, and we certainly can't take them all," Squall sighed. "The sewers will likely be guarded as well. I think they might have caught on by now that people can use those as an access way to the Palace."

"So what now?" Rinoa asked, a little urgently.

"All we need to do is create a distraction and hope your father comes out before something happens," Quistis suggested. "Squall, could we-?"

"We'd have an entire platoon of soldiers on us in a heartbeat. There wouldn't be much time for a distraction," Squall looked over at Rinoa and then back at Quistis. "I might have an idea."

"And so I drop the wrench in the motor and BAM! The sensors go out," one of the guards spoke to the other.

"Jeez, and how'd your commander take that?" The other asked.

"Lost a month's salary. He chucked the damn thing out the train window!" The first laughed with a sort of morbid, gallows humor.

Suddenly two women came walking up towards the palace.

"Girls. Hey is this the surprise the Captain mentioned?" A guard on the wall chuckled.

But there was something odd. At first it looked like they were marching single file, but then it became clear. The tall woman in the back, a blonde, had the shorter woman with black hair in a chokehold and was dragging her struggling form towards the door.

"Hey! That's Rinoa Caraway, the General's daughter!" A lieutenant on the ground level shouted. "Don't fire you might hit her!"

"Are you okay?" Quistis whispered in Rinoa's ear.

Rinoa nodded imperceptibly without breaking character.

"Alright listen up! I want to see General Caraway right now or I'll kill his daughter in front of you all!" Quistis shouted.

The lieutenant pointed at two men on the opposite side of the closed gate and they rushed into the Presidential Palace.

"Calm down, we can talk about this!" Came the voice of a man wearing red officer's garb.

As a show of good faith he detached his gunarm unit and slid it along the ground towards Quistis. Quistis, convincingly, forced Rinoa to bend down and pick it up, keeping her leashed to Qustis with her whip.

"Listen, what do you want?" The man, who wore Captain's bars, asked.

"I have already said what I want. I will speak to nobody except General Caraway," Quistis explained. She glanced over at a tree to her immediate right. "And tell your sniper that if he gets any closer I can put Rinoa in the bullet's flight path before it gets to me."

And with that Quistis jerked Rinoa believably, but completely painlessly, to her right. Rinoa let out a convincing whelp of pain.

"Listen you know you're never gonna get away with this. There are too many of us. But look, I know the General. He's a good man. If you end this all right now I'm sure he'll grant you a pardon," The Captain said.

"I'm not going to hurt her, I just want to see him, you understand?" Quistis explained.

"He's coming, he's coming!" The Captain explained. "He loves his daughter, he'd do anything."

Rinoa blushed slightly. Quistis understood that the two of them had not really gotten along. He was the head of the Galbadian military and she was part of an underground anti-Galbadian resistance force. It made for a terse relationship.

A figure began walking out of the palace. The gates opened, but it was not General Caraway. The Sorceress Edea, wearing her seductive black dress and elaborate pauldrons from whence a large semi-circular ornament rose, walked casually out towards the two girls.

"Hm, a shame. I thought perhaps Ellone was among you two," Edea sighed raising her arms in a haughty way. "Your father won't be joining you I'm afraid."

However, moments later, they heard a man's voice screaming and a disheveled figure ran out from behind Edea.

"Rinoa!" General Caraway screamed.

Edea looked murderous and lifted up Caraway high in to the air above her. "I told you to stay in the Palace, General! It's just as well. I can finish you here instead of in there."

"Father!" Rinoa screamed, breaking out of Quistis's grip and rushing towards Caraway.

The Lieutenant shouted. "Open fire!" However, before the command was brought into effect, a large steel military vehicle skidded out of a side street directly in front of Quistis, shielding her from the bullets.

She jumped in and Squall jumped out, raising his gunblade high over his head and slashing down at Edea. Edea jumped back, but the loss in concentration caused her to lose her hold on Caraway. Caraway, Squall and Rinoa rushed back towards the car which Quistis was now driving.

Edea rose her right hand and shot a small shard of crystal into the back of Rinoa's neck, which just barely pierced it. The soldiers began to fire upon the vehicle now, but it was already on a collision course with the far wall of the city.

"Hang on!" Quistis screamed as the vehicle burst through the barricade and now tore down the hill leading to the vessel.

Zone opened the back hatch and the four of them: Quistis, Squall, Rinoa and General Caraway leapt into the back of the vessel. They were out to sea before the Galbadians could even think about going after them.

"I think they might be onto us, sir," Watts said closing the back hatch.


	14. Chapter 13: The Two Things I'm Bad At

Chapter XIII: The Two Things I'm Bad At

**Operation Cold Snap  
**Day 2, 0700 Hours (March 14, 2 G.E)**  
**Location: Trabia Canyon, Trabia Crater Area, Trabia

Xu finally returned early in the morning. She looked as exhausted as the people around her, and were it not for the SeeD insignia on her uniform she might have been mistaken for the remnants of Trabia.

"What's the word, Colonel?" Fabian asked.

"Dark Garden will be sending support. An air team will be dispatched from Dark Garden as soon as Squall's team returns," Xu explained.

"That's great news!" Cole cheered.

Xu shook her head. "It's complicated. They can only spare one Personnel Carrier. It has a maximum occupancy of 40 passengers. We'll have to make two trips."

"That's not too bad. At any rate there's been no sign of Galbadia yet, so-"

"It's worse. Irvine's Team completed their mission. The missile base is destroyed." They would have cheered again were it not for the serious look on her face. "But we lost contact with them. We have no idea what happened."

"No way!" Cole shouted.

"That can't be right!" Selphie cried.

"And that's bad enough. But it creates a problem for us. Galbadia has redeployed large strike teams to every critical location on their grid. They're sending an assault force to this canyon to secure the pass into Esthar and it seems likely that they know we're here," Xu said.

"How long do we have before they get here?" Selphie asked.

"About three hours. The transports won't be here for another hour and a half," Xu replied.

There was a deafening silence. The kind of silence that is punctuated by the horrible thoughts of those in it.

"We'll be under attack," Fabian observed. "One group will make it out, but the other will find themselves in the dead center of a Galbadian onslaught."

"That's crap? Why can't Dark Garden send two carriers?" Cole demanded.

"Because they're gearing up for an attack of their own," Xu replied.

"What do you mean?" Selphie demanded.

"They've intercepted reports from Galbadian soldiers. They know the rough location of Dark Garden. The Carriers aren't taking us back there. They're taking us to Centra Continent. There are some remote ruins where we are going to hold-up until we re-establish contact with the Garden. They're sending an away team right now to set up a base there for us," Xu explained.

The crippling amount of news, one terrible situation right after another; it was too much to bear.

"I know this is a lot to take in, but we need to plan our battle strategy. Dark Garden will be sending a combat team in with the Carrier, but that alone won't stop a battalion of enemy soldiers. We need some way to halt their advance," Xu said.

"We need to get everybody higher up this canyon. We'll never make it all the way to the top, but we need some breathing room," Fabian began. "I noticed they had some plastic explosive. We could set up traps."

"Okay," Xu nodded. "But we'll need a team to help us set up. I hate to do this but we need the team they're sending in. So for now let's just think and wait."

Cole sighed.

**Homefront  
**0700 Hours, March 14 2 G.E.

Location: Dark Garden, Seafront Mountains, Balamb

"Headmaster!" Squall shouted over the din of the many propellers surrounding him as he walked out to the airpad.

Cid was rolling along in his wheelchair watching the various teams dispatch. He turned to Squall and smiled. "I'm afraid I've chosen a poor place to debrief you."

"Perhaps we should go inside?" Squall shouted.

"Never mind, they'll be gone soon," Cid nodded.

Right on cue, as though he had willed it, the three remaining carriers took off and flew away. Now, only a single vessel remained and it had not started its engines yet.

"That's better," Cid smiled genially. "I'm glad to see that you have survived. You have returned successfully?"

"We've actually got a stowaway," Squall nodded.

Caraway walked up the ramp behind Squall, escorted by Quistis and Rinoa.

Cid nodded solemnly. "General Caraway. To what do I owe this honor?"

"I'm not your enemy," Caraway explained, raising his hands in a gesture of good faith. "The Sorceress is purging Galbadia of all the high-ranking military officials. She does not trust any who served President Deling. She's made some boy the sole commander of all Galbadian forces."

"It's Seifer, Headmaster," Squall replied. "The Sorceress considers him something like a knight."

Cid bowed his head. "Well now. That's a very intriguing step for her to take."

"You should be evacuating. They had divined the location of your base," Caraway explained.

"Some of us are. SeeD will once again be scattered it seems," Cid sighed. "But we are going to attempt to make a stand here, at Dark Garden."

"The might of the entire Galbadian Navy versus this fortress? Cid, I do not mean to be insensitive, but even with the Missile Base destroyed you are outmatched 15 to 1," Caraway said.

Cid rubbed his chin with his good hand. "We lost our first home to your missiles, General. We will not lose our second one. Before NORG passed on, I managed to learn something about his design methodology. We have one trick that just might save our skins."

Cid turned to Squall. "Squall, do you remember hearing that each unit of the base could be self-sufficient? That each level up is capable of withdrawing into the mountain to protect itself?"

"Yes," Squall nodded.

"Well the highest level works a little differently. I do not want you on the front lines. I am going to ask you to prepare this for me," Cid explained.

"Your orders, sir?" Squall asked, saluting.

"Take Quistis and head to the highest level of the tower. You will find a control panel there. Get into position and I will relay further orders when the time is right," Cid said.

"Yes sir," Squall nodded.

Squall headed back towards the door when Rinoa stopped him.

"Cid," she began tentatively. "I want to join you."

Cid seemed taken aback. "But of course, you are here. We rescued you for that reason-"

"No," she replied. "I mean SeeD. I want to become a SeeD."

Caraway turned to his daughter with a look that mixed concern and pride. Cid shrugged his shoulders.

"You seem the kind of person who, once she has made up her mind, cannot be convinced otherwise. I won't bother telling you how dangerous a career choice it is," Cid smiled. "But all SeeDs are required to pass a field exam. Under the circumstances, lets say that successful completion of this mission will qualify you to become a SeeD. You are to assist Squall and Quistis, understood? If you cannot complete the objective, they will get the job done." Cid looked over at Squall and nodded significantly. "They always do."

Squall nodded back.

"Very well. Rinoa, follow me," Squall ordered.

Squall and Rinoa entered Dark Garden. Cid and Caraway considered each other.

"So. Are you going to do it now, or wait until later?" Cid asked.

"Do what?" Caraway asked.

"Ask to join the fight," Cid replied.

Caraway chuckled. "I'm no longer a General, but I, like my daughter, do not wait for permission to do what I intend to do."

"There's a gunship with a full crew waiting for you, General. I'm sure they will be glad to have a veteran onboard."

Caraway saluted. "I thank you, Cid, but that's not what I had in mind. Regardless my position with them now, those are still my men you are about to fire upon. My enemy is the Sorceress and Seifer."

"Hunting them down is suicide," Cid replied. "Your daughter-"

"Can take care of herself," Caraway replied.

"A duel with the sorceress?" Cid asked.

"No. I am not so crazy to risk that. I am not the warrior that I once was. But I can provide you with information. I'm going on a solo mission. I'm not sure if you will see me again," Caraway explained. "But I need to check on something."

Cid seemed confused, but he understood that if Caraway could be more specific, he would.

"Very well. Do as you see fit. Just keep in mind, it would be poor repayment to my SeeDs who risked their lives to save you if you just go throwing it away," Cid said coolly.

"My debt will be settled in the end, I assure you," Caraway replied. He walked over to the vehicle depot and picked out a motorcycle. "I haven't ridden one of these since I was 19."

"Oh boo hoo," Cid chuckled, pointing at his wheelchair.

* * *

Squall, Rinoa and Quistis stood beside the large control panel. The room was a small octagon-shaped chamber with glass for its walls and ceiling. They looked out over the ocean and saw as a massive armada of Galbadian ships approached from around the mountainside.

Sirens went off all around them, and within moments the ground beneath them quaked.

"They're locking down the Garden. The battle will begin in seconds," Quistis quivered.

Sure enough, there was no time wasted with conversation; no attempt for one side to hail the other. Guns from both shot off instantly.

"This is terrible!" Rinoa cried.

Squall clutched the front of the control panel. His head began to ring fiercely and he felt lightheaded.

"Squall what's wrong with you?" Rinoa asked.

Squall wasn't sure, but he looked over at Quistis who was now rubbing her head and stumbling around.

"No! Not now!" Squall cried. "Not now!"

But within seconds he and Quistis had passed out on the floor. It had been two years since this had happened last.


	15. Chapter 14: Crossfire

Chapter XIV: Crossfire

**Unknown Classification  
**April 19, 18 B.G.E. (Before Galbadian Empire)  
Location: Trabia Canyon, Trabia Crater Area, Trabia

Laguna rubbed his arms fiercely, trying to regain some of the warmth he'd lost while fighting.

"I told you we could take that thing down," Laguna smirked arrogantly, as he patched up his wounds.

"A lucky shot... that's what they'd usually call it," Kiros replied, leaning his head back against the rock.

The two men stood in the shadow of the slain Ruby Dragon, it's battered corpse lie motionless in the center of the canyon. A few minutes ago they had been locked in a mortal battle with an enemy ten times their strength. If Laguna hadn't managed to hit the beasts eyes while firing blindly they would surely have died.

"Well whatever, it's down, right?" Laguna replied, moving to pat Kiros on the back, but withdrawing his arm as the pain surged through his muscles. "Hey, do you feel a little... funny?"

Kiros looked up at the sky. "I think the faeries were late today."

"Well whatever, we should be able to cure ourselves at least," Laguna raised his hand into the air and, with powers he had only thrice felt before, he summoned a curative beam of energy that made his bones mend, skin heal and stamina restore.

Kiros did the same. The two men now stood up rejuvenated. Laguna looked around to see if anybody from the movie crew had stayed around for them, but the director's van was gone and all that remained of the set was the fake Ruby Dragon costume and the armor and gunblade that Laguna had stripped off his person before fighting.

Laguna grunted. "Well what now? We can't go back through the canyon towards the crater, and going up and over the mountain would be suicide without proper equipment; fairies or no."

Kiros moved towards the canyon. "You know what Ward would say?"

"Soonest begun, soonest over with?" Laguna asked.

Kiros sighed. "More or less. Soonest _done _Laguna."

"Whatever, whatever," Laguna waved his hand dismissively. "You worry about semantics, I'll worry about where we need to go next."

"Actually that's what worries me," Kiros set his hand to his forehead.

Laguna leaned back against the canyon wall. "You know it's almost like you don't trust me."

Suddenly the surface of the rock behind him lit up. Laguna fell backwards as the rock wall descended into the ground, revealing a dark path behind him. The corridor lit up with ethereal lights on either side of the corridor.

"A back door into Esthar?" Kiros nodded, examining the passageway.

"You see, I've got a sixth sensibility about this sort of thing!" Laguna grinned.

"Sixth _sense, _Laguna."

* * *

**Siege of Dark Garden  
**0730 Hours, March 14 2 G.E.  
Location: Dark Garden, Seafront Mountains, Balamb

Squall awoke to Rinoa's quivvering voice.

"Squall! Are you okay?"

Squall rose slowly, rubbing his head. He looked over at Quistis who seemed to be doing the same. She stumbled around for a bit finally clutching onto the control console for support.

"Trabia Canyon, right?" Squall asked.

Quistis nodded.

"Why do you think that happened now of all times?" Quistis asked as she moved back into position.

"I'm not sure," Squall grunted. "We don't have time to think about it now. Our orders are clear, wait for Cid's signal and prepare the secret weapon that he has planned."

Quistis shrugged.

"Something wrong?" Rinoa asked.

"I can't shake the feeling that there's something important we've overlooked," Quistis sighed.

* * *

The battle was an impossible feat from the beginning, but under the circumstances, Dark Garden was doing quite well. Strategically they had three things on their side.

First, and foremost, was that they were on the defense; able to fire upon the enemy from their fortress without having to worry about troop deployment or evasive maneuvers. This, alone, might have been their saving grace.

Second was that even with the hover-troopers being launched from the ships, they held, for the moment, air superiority over the Galbadian Navy, with several gunships swooping down on the vessels like overlarge birds of prey.

The third was the most unsettling. The warships did not seem to be advancing. They were within range to fire their weapons but it seemed they had no attempt to try and siege their position. This gave the ground troops around the Dark Garden some breathing room, as they only had to worry about the occassional squad of hover-troopers rather than an entire boarding party.

Cid observed the action from the helipad. His forces seemed to be doing quite well. The Galbadian Forces had lost seven ships, whereas the SeeD forces had only lost a single gunship, and most of the crew was able to parachute to safety.

Something was not right.

What was the enemy waiting for? Were they, perhaps, trying to distract the SeeDs or maybe trying to convince them to retreat so they could siege the fortress. No matter how he reasoned, the enemies actions simply did not make sense.

A loud shell blast took down a Galbadian frigate and cheers went up from the battlements. There were more than fifty ships still remaining in the enemy fleet, but each minor victory held morale high. And, perhaps, if this was a diversion, they would have improved their odds for when the true threat arrived.

But what could they have planned? The Missile Base had been destroyed, and Caraway, the head of the Galbadian Forces, had not known of any other secret silos. Could he have been intentionally kept in the dark? Were more missiles on the way? That would explain the reason why the ships were keeping their distance. As each minute ticked off he grew more and more concerned.

He would not retreat though. The Garden was built to withstand missile blasts and the lower levels that had been already withdrawn into the mountain for cover would be impregnable. But then, wouldn't the Galbadians have already prepared for this? Another gunship crashed down. The crew of this one was not so lucky. The pilot had steered his craft towards the largest of the Galbadian cruisers and inflicted a mortal blow.

The cheer went up, but was silenced instantly. From the haze of battle a large shadowy figure; ten times the size of any frigate, hovered above the surface of the water and moved slowly towards the battle.

A chill ran through the combatants. The ships steered out of the way of this behemoth. Because of the slow speeds of the navy and the unknown vessel it seemed to be all happening in slow motion. As it passed through a final layer of morning mist, its detail was thrown into sharp relief.

It was Galbadia Garden. And it was flying.


	16. Chapter 15: Up In The Air

Chapter XV: Up In The Air

**Battle At Trabia Canyon  
**0830 Hours, March 14 2 G.E.  
Location: Trabia Canyon, Trabia Crater Area, Trabia

The carrier arrived at the top of the canyon. The Trabia Garden wounded were first priority and then junior classmen. A few women filled up the carrier (they had gone first out of a sense of military tradition). None of the men who were able to stand and shoot went in the first batch.

"Listen, we're gonna try and take an alternate route to drop these guys off at Centra as soon as we can. Just stay alive!" The pilot shouted.

"Cole, you're getting on this carrier," Xu ordered.

Cole stood his ground. His arm remained limp at his side but he carried his shotgun in the other. "No ma'am. I can still stand and I can still shoot, those were the prerequisites right?"

"You're wounded and probably frostbitten. You need medical attention," Xu insisted.

"Which can wait a couple more hours," Cole nodded. "Besides they're gonna need all the SeeDs they can get. With me you have four."

"Three and a half, more like," Fabian nodded. "I agree with the Colonel."

Cole shrugged but then nodded. "Alright, I get it. You've got no use for a broken soldier."

Cole grudgingly sat on the edge of the carrier, hooking his good arm into a strap.

"I'm sorry Cole. Look after the others, okay?" Xu smiled.

"Don't patronize me, Colonel," Cole scoffed.

Xu looked at Cole, sighed and then patted the hood of the carrier. The pilot nodded and the vessel began to rise into the air. It flew north over the mountains and was gone in the morning fog within minutes.

"Heading over the north pole to get to Centra? It's faster, but more dangerous," Fabian nodded.

"Hey, get ready. We've got enemies showing up any minute now. The scout lance will probably have already been here," Xu explained.

"You can say that again. Look," Selphie nodded towards the canyon. "Two walkers already."

Xu picked up her binoculars and saw two Galbadian troops moving along a cliff on the opposite side of the canyon. Along with them was a large mechanized spider.

"An X-ATM?" Xu observed, unable to keep the concern out of her voice. "They'd never use that as a scout unit, it's too obvious."

"Any chance they're trying to lure us out?" Fabian asked. "They know we have an advantage remaining on the defense, perhaps they're hoping to divide us."

"I don't like this," Xu sighed. "Tell our guys to get ready. The enemy is here."

**Siege of Dark Garden  
**0830 Hours, March 14, 2 G.E.  
Location: Dark Garden, Seafront Mountains, Balamb

The Garden swooped low over the Galbadian vessels. It moved slow, but sure as coordinated fire from the Galbadian navy began. The skyrocketing morale that had carried the force through the first leg of the battle dropped as gunship after gunship was blasted into oblivion.

A claxon rang out over Dark Garden as the ground and air forces began to retreat. Even with the lockdown in effect, a defensive battle against a force like this was a suicide mission.

Cid rolled into the command center where Squall, Quistis and Rinoa stood in horror of the force laid before them.

"Sir, if this Garden has a secret weapon, now would be a very good time to use it," Quistis insisted.

"I concur," Cid nodded. "Squall, if you would do the honors."

Squall operated the terminal in front of him and within moments the entire Garden began to quake.

"Sir?" Squall asked.

Cid nodded. "Don't worry. Our retreat will not be delayed any further."

The top level of the Garden erupted from the side of the mountain. Metal fins shot out of the side and the top giving the image of a large flat fish moving through the sky.

"We're flying?" Rinoa shouted.

"Sir? The others?" Quistis cried.

"They are all here. I've had this planned for years but have never told anybody the secret in case we were infiltrated," Cid explained. "Don't worry though. They know to always retreat to the top level of the Garden."

"We'll never make it past that blockade and Galbadia Garden though," Squall insisted. "Don't we have any weapons?"

"I almost forgot," Cid nodded rolling towards the terminal.

Dark Garden swooped down sharply, and skipped along the surface of the water. Out of the observation deck blasts of smoke shot up, obscuring the view. A loud shriek echoed through the air as missiles exploded around them.

Squall ran out onto the balcony and saw as the explosions took out two gunships directly in their path. Before he could turn back the floor around him began to shake. It opened up, dropping Squall into the seat of a gatling gun.

"Quistis, would you?" Cid asked pointing out to the other side.

Quistis ran over to the far side and mounted onto the other gatling gun. An entire lance of paratroopers hovered just overhead firing rocket launchers in the direction of the Garden. Quistis's bullets ripped through the aerial troops, but Squall focused his fire on the massive Galbadia Garden which was now just above them.

Cid let another round of missiles shoot out clearing the way yet again as a massive carrier was torn to shreds.

"No more missiles," Cid called, quite casually as though he were telling Squall and Quistis the time of day.

Another lance of paratroopers shot out from the Garden which was now behind them. Apparently they could not turn as fast as the relatively small Dark Garden. The Paratroopers were just as agile however, trying to stop the retreat. A rocket grazed inches from Quistis as she shot the commander out of the air.

Squall heard a shrill whine and leapt from his seat as the gatling gun position was consumed in a fiery blaze. Squall looked behind them and saw that they were now moving so fast that the blockade seemed to be nothing more than distant shadows.

The last paratrooper fell with a barely audible splash and Quistis returned to the flight deck.

"That was quite a daring escape," Cid chuckled.

"Sir, where to?" Squall asked. "Are we supporting the Trabia Team?"

"No," Cid shook his head. "And we're not regrouping at the Centra Ruins either."

"Sir?" Quistis asked.

"We can't run the risk that one of our teams is being tracked. We won't regroup with the others for a while," Cid explained.

"Then where are we going?" Rinoa asked.

"The Grandidi Forest in Esthar. That should be a good place to lie low for a while," Cid nodded.

"While we wait for what?" Squall asked.

Cid shook his head. "An opportunity."


	17. Chapter 16: Scramble

**Chapter XVI: **Scramble

**Battle At Trabia Canyon  
**0930 Hours, March 14 2 G.E.  
Location: Trabia Canyon, Trabia Crater Area, Trabia

'The sound of gunfire echoed through Trabia Canyon. The battered and injured soldiers were severely outgunned, but they were in an advantageous position of defense. At least, for the moment. Xu, Fabian and Selphie loaded their weapons as they sat behind a crate.

"The X-ATMs are gonna tear apart out defenses. We've already lost twelve men!" Fabian cursed.

"These men aren't trained to handle these kind of conditions," Xu sighed. "We are."

"What are you thinking?" Fabian asked.

"We can't wait for the transport. We need another way out," Xu replied.

"They can't cross the mountain in their condition," Selphie cried.

"They can, if we can provide them some cover," Xu nodded.

"What do you plan to do?" Fabian asked, his voice suddenly more frantic as he had a fairly good idea what his commander was planning.

"We're SeeD. Special Forces. This is what we've been trained to do," Xu said. She shoved a clip into her weapon.

"Colonel," Fabian said. "You can't possibly be thinking…"

"We have a mission to complete," Xu said. "Sound the retreat."

And without another word she rushed over the crate, blasting through an entire squad without taking a single hit.

"She's insane," Selphie sighed. "I'm gonna go help her!"

"Then you're just as crazy," Fabian cursed. He shouted to the soldiers. "Hey! We're retreating! Fall back!"

Selphie rushed over the barricade smashing through an armored trooper with her nunchaku. An X-ATM landed in the middle of the snowbanks between her and Xu and fired a gatling gun burst just at her feet. The order to retreat echoed throughout the canyon, but a few soldiers had refused to obey the orders, instead rushing out to help Xu and Selphie.

The sound of a rocket blast caused Selphie to go temporarily deaf. She dropped to the ground as the X-ATM began to charge another gatling blast. The corpse of a comrade flew through the air landing just a few feet beside her. The silence was more horrible than any of the sounds she would hear. She lifted her weapon weakly but her spirit was broken. There was no hope for any of them.

She was pushed to the side and her hearing slowly returned to her as the sound of more gunfire just above her vibrated through her head. The X-ATM dropped to the ground. Selphie turned over to see Fabian holding a machine gun with a grenade-launcher component.

"Selphie!" Fabian shouted, although to her it seemed like a distant whisper. "We have to go!"

Two more rockets landed just a few feet from them blasting shrapnel all over them. Fabian screamed in pain and now his voice was louder. Selphie looked and saw that a large metal shard was sticking out of the side of his arm.

"Fabian!" Selphie cried.

"It's a flesh wound!" Fabian replied. "Grab your gun and find the Colonel!"

The X-ATM lifted its head but Fabian shot a grenade just beneath it and then rolled down the far side of the snowbank with Selphie in his arms. The parts of the X-ATM littered the ground around them.

"Get going!" Fabian shouted. "I've got this!"

Selphie's hearing was back, and so were her SeeD sensibilities. That sense of despair was gone. All that was left as she looked down on the battered corpses of her former classmates was fury. Raw, animal anger. She set her nunchaku at her back and rushed in the midst of the battle her weapon cutting down any soldier or machine foolish enough to get in her path.

Another X-ATM skidded in front of her but she slid underneath the machine and fired several rounds into its underbelly. She landed on the other side where a soldier stood. She knocked him to the ground with her nunchaku, shot him in the head and took his grenades, lobbing one back at the X-ATM.

She continued to run as the shrapnel of the destroyed war machine landed all around her. Xu was a few yards ahead of her, in combat with an entire company of Galbadian soldiers. Fabian was making his way along the far right flank along with a few friendly combatants who were providing him cover fire.

Two friendlies came up behind Selphie. One patted her on the shoulder. "Come on! We have to go help the Colonel!"

Selphie nodded and ran ahead with them. She lobbed one of her grenades into the crowd of soldiers who dispersed immediately. Only a few were actually hit by the explosion but it did what it was meant to do, it gave Xu some breathing room.

"I thought I gave the order to retreat," Xu said.

"You can court marshal us when we get home," Fabian replied.

"How's everybody else?" Xu asked.

"They're making their way up the mountain. They should be okay if we can just buy them a few more minutes," one of the soldiers said.

"I've got an idea," Selphie said, looking at the switchbacks. She ran over to a fallen soldier and grabbed his rocket launcher.

"What are you doing?" Xu asked.

"We have to buy them time. Let's just make it so they can't be followed!" Selphie shouted.

"Wait a minute! What about us?" Fabian asked.

"Do it!" Xu shouted.

Selphie didn't hesitate. She launched the rocket at the base of the switchbacks, the entire mountain seemed to quake with the explosion as the lower paths were destroyed into an impassable rock scramble.

"It won't stop them, but it might slow them down enough for the others to cross the mountain and maybe even get picked up by the other transport," Xu sighed.

"And what do we do in the meantime?" Fabian asked.

"We need to find another way out. We won't be able to hold out for long," Xu replied.

In a cruel punctuation to that thought, one of the soldiers standing beside Fabian took a bullet to the head and fell over dead.

"Damn it!" Xu cursed, retraining her weapon on the scattered Galbadian troops.

The others followed suit, moving slowly back towards the side of the mountain. One of the troops on Selphie's side fell, his weapon still firing as he breathed his last. Another explosion ricocheted large metal plates towards Fabian who leapt to the side to avoid them.

"We're so screwed!" Fabian cursed.

"Quit bitching and find us a way out of here!" Xu said, her back touching rock.

Selphie looked over at the Colonel and saw one of the small rocks at her back start to glow slowly.

"Xu!" She said, shoving her aside and pressing the rock.

A small door opened in the face of the mountain.

"That works for me!" Xu shouted. "Everybody inside, double-time!"

The soldiers went in first, followed by Fabian. A large "Iron Clad" rushed towards them, it's gatling gun firing wildly. Xu and Selphie jumped out of the way of the opening, which was too small for the Iron Clad to get into.

"Get to the entrance!" Xu shouted as she ran back into the snowbanks.

"What about you?" Selphie cried as the Iron Clad rushed past her.

Selphie stood frozen , but Fabian again moved her against her will, dragging her into the door. Xu double-backed and began running towards the door. Just as Xu was only a few feet from the entrance the door slammed shut.

"No!" Selphie cried slamming her fist against the rock. "Open up!"

Xu turned and saw the entire battalion with their weapons trained on her.

"Open that entrance now!" Shouted a commander.

"Go to hell," Xu said, using her pistol to destroy the stone that acted as a gate control.

Another shot rang out, echoing through the Canyon, and Xu fell to the ground, dropping her weapons in the snow banks.


	18. Chapter 17: Reformation

Chapter XVII: Reformation

**Operation Broken Wing  
**1330 Hours, March 14 2 G.E.  
Location: Galbadia, Deling City, Shopping District

Raurk and Dent sat in a booth at the Sideline Grill, a cheap sports restaurant. They were wearing civilian clothing they'd bought earlier that day but kept their faces covered with hats and shades; not that they needed much cover in a place as crowded as this.

Zell walked over to them carrying a large tray with their food. Irvine, Nida and Jenson sat on the opposite side of the booth behind them. The ruckus from a loud game of rugby that echoed from the television screens , not to mention the cheers and boos of the fans made this an ideal place to have a discreet discussion.

"My radio is still busted before you even bother to ask," Dent said, a little coarsely.

"I'm not bothered by it," Zell nodded. "I'm just amazed that we're all still here."

"Hiding in the Iron Clad was your stroke of genius," Raurk nodded. "Saved our skin."

"Hey," Irvine said from the other side of the booth. "Less talk, more rock. What are we doing here?"

"Well Dark Garden is on the move," Jenson said. "I heard some battle chatter while we were in that machine."

"So returning is out of the question," Nida shrugged. "Who would have thought that thing could fly. I mean I knew he had a secret weapon and all, but seriously."

"Our best bet at this point would be to make our way towards Centra. We can regroup at the rally point there. Of course the only way that's going to happen is by sea," Irvine sighed. "Looks like we'll be heading to Dollet after all."

"I'll go rent us a car," Raurk said.

"Rent or steal?" Zell asked.

"Let's just say, commandeer. That's a nice bullshit term for it," Raurk chuckled, standing up. "Meet me by the front gate in fifteen minutes."

"And six of us have to fit in this thing," Dent sighed. "I hope he has the foresight to steal a van at least."

**No Operation ID  
**1400 Hours, March 14 2 G.E.  
Location: Galbadia, Timber, Timber Maniacs

"General Caraway, what an honor," the Editor-In-Chief of Timber Maniacs nodded.

There was an icy quality to his voice that would have made a lesser man shiver, but Caraway had no time for politics. He raised his weapon without thinking and pointed it directly under the man's chin.

"I'm not playing this game with you. Where is Galbadia Garden now?" Caraway asked.

The Editor was apparently a resilient man himself, who didn't even seemed bothered by Carways gun in his face. "What would make you think I know anything?"

"You keep tabs on all Galbadian activity for the resistance groups in this area. You have spies who all report to you," Caraway said. "And for the record I would have brought them all down years ago if it weren't for my respect for my daughter. So I let you continue to operate and low and behold it has come in handy. Funny how that works."

"Why are you trying to find Galbadia Garden? Wouldn't you know?"

"My relationship with the Galbadian Military is a tad strained at this point," Caraway said, cocking the gun. "I won't ask you again."

"Alright alright!" The Editor barked. "They make birth out of a small outcropping near Centra. Apparently the Sorceress wishes to remain hidden when they're not on the move."

Caraway lowered his gun. "That makes sense."

The Editor breathed a low sigh of relief.

"But how can I get to Centra? Do you know where I can find a ship?"

"Since Balamb only has fishing boats, your best bet would be Dollet or Fisherman's Horizon.

"I can't risk being seen at Dollet. I'll just hike across the tracks then." Caraway sighed.

"You're gonna walk?" The Editor barked, louder than anything he'd said previously. "That's a month journey on foot."

"What do you recommend?" Caraway asked.

The Editor sighed. "If you're really acting against Galbadia, then I guess I can help you."

He pointed out back to the alleyway, where a motorcycle was sitting.

"Your bike? Rinoa said you loved that more than the resistance," Caraway nodded.

"Yeah, but look at me. If I try to ride that I'd look like an asshole. You've still got some youth in you," The Editor nodded. "You'll need to stock up on fuel and supplies but it should at least cut down on the journey."

Caraway bowed in appreciation. "You will be rewarded for this as soon as I return. I promise."

"If you're going against the Sorceress I doubt you will return," The Editor shrugged.

Caraway nodded. "Yeah. That makes two of us."

**Centra Outpost  
**1545 Hours, March 14 2 G.E.  
Location: Centra, Centra Ruins, Fountain Plaza

"The last transport should be hear shortly," A soldier nodded towards Cole. "How's your arm?"

"It feels the same as it did four hours ago: broken," Cole replied somewhat testily.

The Centra Ruins were a large series of towers and platforms of which only a few useable spots remained. The fountain plaza where they now sat had been turned into a base camp for the surviving Trabia Garden members.

"Just got word that Dark Garden will not be joining us just yet. They say they want to lay low in Grandidi Forest to make sure they weren't followed," Another soldier said.

"That's a good idea," Cole nodded. "Last thing we need is another unwinnable battle."

"I don't know sir," he said looking around the camp. "It seems like more of the same for us. We traveled from one set of ruins to another."

Cole chuckled. "You guys could bitch about anything. We're far away from the enemy, it's a hell of a lot warmer and we have a decent amount of rations and supplies. We're golden."

"So we just sit and wait?" The first soldier asked, sitting down beside him.

"Yep," Cole replied. "Sit, wait, eat, heal and get ready for an attack if we find ourselves in one."

"You think they'd follow us here?" The second soldier asked.

"They want us dead, and they're not going to stop hunting us until we all are," Cole nodded. "Get used to it."


	19. Chapter 18: The Prelude

Chapter XVIII: The Prelude

**Dark Garden Recovery  
**0600 Hours, March 15 2 G.E.  
Location: Eastern Shoreline, Grandidi Forest, Esthar

Squall sat on the beach, taking a breather from his patrol of the area. Dark Garden had set down in the ocean near the beach, but Cid wanted there to be a shore-side encampment to make gathering additional supplies, such as food and medicinal herbs could be easily obtained.

The current plan was to wait for a week, to avoid the potential of being tailed and then attempt to regroup with the others in the Centra Ruins, assuming it was safe to do so. Squall had never been in such a desperate situation in his life. The last remnants of SeeD were scattered to the four corners, several of his comrades were either dead, dying or likely to be captured.

He tried to resume his usual attitude of just trying not to care. To only think about the mission and nothing else. But he'd had a long time to think in that prison, and so far his current mission was not going so well. If he let himself become too detached, he'd end up just as heartless as Seifer.

Quistis walked up to him and handed him a bottle of water.

"Find anything useful?" Quistis asked.

"A nest of Marlboros," Squall sighed. "This is a death trap. I don't know what Cid was thinking bringing us here."

"About the same on my end," Quistis sighed. "My team only found monsters, monsters, and more monsters. We're going to need a new plan."

The door leading into one of the wings of Dark Garden opened, and a small walkway lowered onto the beach. Cid rolled his chair down onto the sand.

"Headmaster?" Quistis asked, saluting him.

"I need you all on the bridge," Cid said. "Get everyone aboard Dark Garden at once."

Squall walked up the ramp behind Cid. Quistis whistled and the two SeeD teams that were waiting on the beach fell in line behind her. As they moved swiftly down the hallways towards the bridge only one thought went through Squalls mind.

_What the hell is going on now?_

At the doorway to the bridge, Cid turned his chair around and looked at the SeeD members. "Everyone except Squall and Quistis are dismissed."

The men scattered and Cid looked directly at Quistis. "Quistis, we received a transmission from the Centra Ruins location. Xu's command team, with the exception of Cole, did not make it back."

Quistis tried to put on a brave face, but Squall could tell how she was feeling. Because he was feeling it himself. Xu had been Quistis's best friend and he knew she'd grown close to Selphie in the prison. Why was it that Cid assumed that Squall didn't care about the outcome.

Was he really viewed as that cold?

"The reports that we intercepted from Galbadia tell us nothing. We only know that most of the forces there were wiped out, but a few managed to escape via a previously unknown underground passage. So, perhaps all hope is not lost," Cid said.

"That's good," Squall interjected. He didn't mean for it to sound quite as forced as it had come out, but he wanted Cid to know that he, too, cared.

"Yes, I do hope they managed to survive somehow. But, that is not the reason why I have summoned you. Our communications team has been working around the clock trying to hail the closest friendly nation to us," Cid explained.

"But Trabia was wiped out. And Balamb wouldn't be able to send reinforcements," Quistis said.

"No, indeed it's been a rather fruitless endeavor so far. That is, until earlier this morning. We found a faint signature coming from the south," Cid explained.

"The Esthar Continent? But I thought that country had disappeared. They're isolationists who've declared neutrality. They've been radio silent for years," Quistis added.

"That may be so, but we were most definitely hailed by somebody," Cid said.

A loud whining sound echoed through Squall's head. He clutched at his ears and cried in pain. But it wasn't external pain. It was internal.

"Squall?" Cid asked, looking back at him in shock.

"It's happening again," Squall said, giving a meaningful look to Quistis.

* * *

**Operation Cold Snap  
**0600, March 15, 2 G.E.  
Location: Forgotten Oubliette, Trabia Crater Area, Trabia

Selphie, Fabian and the other soldiers had been hiking for hours now along a seemingly endless stretch of metal road. Cavernous collections of machines and terminals seemed to stretch off into the distance, as though they were in a massive warehouse meant to be traveled by a much faster vehicle.

Light from nearby computers kept their path lit, but just barely. And even though they traveled together the depth of the place had that uncanny ability to make them all feel very alone.

"Where do you think this comes out?" Fabian asked, trying to make conversation.

"Must be somewhere on the Esthar Continent, I'd figure," one soldier said.

"Those guys. I bet they won't be happy to see us," another added.

Selphie sat down on a small terminal looking device. "We should probably take a breather. We've been marching for hours and there's no sign of a pursuit."

"I agree," Fabian nodded. "Let's grab some food and drink and try to catch a nap if you can in this place. We start moving again in four hours."

"Four hours? What's the rush?" The first soldier asked.

"We're not home free yet and I sure don't have any plans to make this place a permanent residence. If you want to then you're more than welcome to consider yourself dismissed," Fabian replied strictly, before turning pull a ration out of his pack.

"Jeez, can't ask a question around here," the soldier grunted, unrolling a sleeping bag.

Selphie sipped from her canteen and slid down to the floor of the metal walkway. Fabian, in a fit of chivalry, took her pack from her and unrolled her sleeping bag for her. She crawled over and wrapped herself in it.

Fabian bent down next to her. "I know you're hurting, Selphie, but we really will have to keep moving. If we can get to the other side of this place we might be able to get help."

"I don't think we will be able to get out of here though," Selphie said. "Look up."

Fabian looked up and saw another walkway matching theirs, followed by one above it. Only the top-most walkway had any active lights aside from old terminals and there even appeared to be a lift system near it, albeit a deactivated one.

"It's a dungeon," Selphie sighed, her eyes closing.

"We'll be fine," Fabian said, laying down beside her. "I promise."

Selphie slowly drifted off to sleep. Just as she felt her mind ebbing away, a familiar faint ringing sound echoed through her ears. She was too tired to fight it, but knew exactly what it meant was about to happen.

* * *

**Operation Broken Wing  
**0600 Hours, March 15, 2 G.E.  
Location: Mile Marker 24, Dollet Road, Dollet

Raurk had, as it turns out, the common sense to steal a van, which the six of them were now crammed into. Nida was driving, with Raurk acting as shotgun. Zell and Dent sat in the middle row of seats, Jenson sat in the back and Irvine was laying in the back of the van, taking a nap.

"So we're about 24 miles from Dollet," Raurk said. "This baby will have us there in I'd say half an hour or so. If we're quick we can knock out some poor bastard fisherman and steal his ride."

"I must say, so far we're doing a great job of winning hearts and minds," Nida sighed.

"This is war, kid. You gotta make a few sacrifices," Raurk barked.

"Or, more accurately, other people do," Dent amended.

"Cute," Raurk grunted. "But enough with the bleeding hearts crap. You forget, me and Dent ain't SeeD. We're just contractors."

"Not that we're not sympathetic to your cause," Dent also added.

"Why do you feel you gotta sugar-coat everything I say kid?" Raurk laughed.

"I'd just like to know what a guy has to do to get some sleep around here," Irvine groaned from the back. He got on his knees and bent over the back row of seats. "What's going on? Where are we at?"

"Like 20 miles from Dollet. Hope you're ready for another snatch and grab operation because this sure won't be pretty whatever it is," Raurk warned.

"On that note," but Zell stopped and clutched his head cursing profusely. A loud high-pitched cry pierced his head; the pressure made him feel like he would explode.

"Zell? You okay man?" Irvine asked.

"Not this crap again," Zell sighed as he fell over and passed out.


	20. Chapter 19: Ragnarok

Chapter XIX: Ragnarok

**No Operation** **ID**  
Excavation Tunnels, Stone Plateau, Esthar  
Date Unknown

Laguna rubbed his head and lay down on his cot. It had, as always, been a hard day of work. He'd lost count of how many day's he had been working with Kiros and Ward in the tunnels beneath Esthar. Tonight, however, was his last night underground. Kiros lay down next to him on his cot.

"So," Kiros said. "How do you wanna do this?"

"I don't know," Laguna sighed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean do you have a plan?" Kiros asked, predicting the answer in his head.

"Not really. I'm thinking I'll just make it up as I go along," Laguna said. "That's worked well for me in the past."

Kiros shrugged. Ward walked in last. He gave Laguna a questioning look.

"Not yet Ward," Laguna said.

"He's thinking," Kiros explained, hoping that was what Laguna was doing.

Ward grunted hoarsely and sat down on a chair between the two.

"Well, you know they say, no time like right now," Laguna said, jumping out of his cot almost as soon as Ward sat down.

"That's not the expression," Kiros sighed, sitting up himself. "Why do you bother quoting things if you always get them wrong?"

Ward looked over to Laguna and gave the same questioning look.

"Now you can do it," Laguna nodded.

Ward walked steadily over to the door and opened it. The two guards turned and raised their weapons, strange axe-like objects with guns built into the hilt.

"Hey!" the first shouted. "What's the idea?"

Ward, without thinking, lifted them both up and threw them over the nearby railings down into the depths of the tunnels.

"Well that was simple enough," Laguna said. "One of them even dropped their weapon."

Laguna picked up the axe and checked the clip. Shouts from the soldiers above them rang through the tunnels and an unpleasant claxon blared.

"I think they might be onto us Laguna," Kiros noted, lifting two small utility knives from the chest near where the guards were sitting.

Ward walked over to one side of the tunnel and grabbed a massive mechanical pickaxe. He turned to Laguna and smirked.

"Yeah, that does suit you big man," Laguna nodded. "Lead the way."

Ward ran down the catwalk with Laguna and Kiros following close behind. An elevator descended a short distance in front of them.

"Kiros!" Laguna shouted.

"I know what to do!" Kiros shouted, leaping over the catwalk and began to move hand-over-hand on the cables beneath it.

The elevator opened and two more guards rushed out. Their weapons raised and they fired two warning shots past their heads.

"Stop right there or we will shoot!" The guard shouted.

"Okay we surrender," Laguna smirked, raising his hands.

The guard slowly approached them. "Drop the weapon!"

"Drop?" Laguna asked. "Oh no, I'm sorry, you don't understand. I said we surrender. I didn't say anything about _him._"

The guards turned just slightly too late to see Kiros leap up from underneath the catwalk and tackle both of them. They hit the catwalk with a loud thud and lost control of their weapons, which both slid over the rails.

"Now, stay down here and you won't get hurt," Laguna shouted as they ran past the guards into the elevator.

Kiros pressed the button on the elevator and they began to descend.

"Why are we going down?" Laguna asked.

"Our way out is down there," Kiros explained. "I think you'll appreciate this."

Ward shot a look of confusion at Laguna, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

When the elevator opened they were greeted with a hail of gunfire. They dropped to the ground and Laguna began to return fire at random. When the dust settled from the first volley the three saw a group of twelve Esthar soldiers blocking the way.

"Kiros," Laguna said. "What's going on?"

"I didn't expect them to be here already," Kiros shrugged.

Ward threw his machinery at the guards knocking three of them down and flinging a fourths arm almost out of its socket.

The gunfire started again and Laguna, Ward and Kiros leapt over the last railing to the cave bottom. Kiros ran towards a large object in the distance. Laguna and Ward just followed, the former occasionally returning fire.

"They're heading for the Ragnarok!" One of the soldiers shouted. "Stop them at once!"

"Too late, asshole!" Kiros shouted running up a small ramp into the belly of the large object.

It took Laguna a moment to realize what was going on. As he looked around and saw the surroundings; the wires, displays and mechanical components, it slowly dawned on him.

"Is this an airship?" Laguna asked.

"It's a _space_ship," Kiros explained. "Come on."

They stood on a small lift near the catwalk and it rose to what was unmistakeably a bridge.

"How did you know this was here?" Laguna asked.

"They had me working down here last month. I was the guy who figured out what it was. Almost got the damn thing to lift off too which is why they put me back on tunnel duty," Kiros explained.

Kiros took a seat in the pilot's chair.

"So, how are we gonna fly this thing out of here?" Laguna asked.

Kiros looked back at the two. "You might want to buckle up."

Laguna and Ward took no time in sitting in the nearest seats and belting themselves firmly in.

Kiros pulled back on the steering column and the ship began to rise.

"Hang on guys. We're gonna run out of room real fast," Kiros warned.

The Ragnarok swayed through the narrow passes and railways, climbing up past each level. Gunfire ricocheted like hail off the hull of the craft as it lurched straight up towards a solitary patch of sunlight.

"You'll never make that!" Laguna shouted.

"I think we can," Kiros said. "I feel their presence nearby."

Ward nodded in agreement and looked meaningfully at Laguna.

Laguna folded his arms. "Okay... go for it."

Kiros punched the throttle and Ragnarok launched skyward. The intense force of being pulled away from the center of gravity made Laguna sick to his stomach and he clenched the seat tightly as the ship ascended.

"Come on!" Kiros shouted at the craft as it began to buckle against the cavern walls.

"You're pushing it too hard! The engine's gonna give out!" Laguna shouted.

"She'll hold!" Kiros insisted. "Damn it, you can do this!"

With a final deafening screech as the ship's wings were shaved by the mouth of the cavern, the Ragnarok leveled out and saw open air.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Laguna sighed, clutching his stomach.

"That makes two of us. But we're not out of the woods yet. We're still in Esthar's airspace," Kiros said.

"We can't leave now! We have to find Ellone!" Laguna shouted.

Ward looked sternly at Laguna and shook his head.

Laguna sighed. "You're right Ward. We won't be able to save anybody if we get captured again. Kiros, find us a safe place to set down."


	21. Chapter 20: Sorceress

Chapter XX: Sorceress

**Operation Tribute  
**0900 Hours, March 16 2 G.E.  
Dark Garden, Coast of Esthar

Squall awoke in the infirmary. Rinoa was sitting beside his bed. She had a look of concern that Squall had almost never seen before.

"How long was I out this time?" Squall asked.

"Almost a day," Rinoa sighed. "What did you see this time?"

Squall wasn't sure what he had seen. He tried to recall what parts were the actual vision, and what parts were simply his dreams and nightmares.

"Well," he began, searching for the right words. "There was this cavern. Laguna, Kiros and Ward were there. They'd apparently been forced into slavery. They broke out flying this huge red spaceship. That's really about it."

"Red spaceship?" Rinoa asked. "Are you sure you didn't just hit your head or something?"

"I don't know," Squall sighed. Suddenly he jumped out of bed. "Esthar! Are we heading there?"

Quistis walked in. "Squall! Good to see you're awake!"

But there was no time for idle chat. Squall needed to know precisely what was going on, and he wasn't even sure why.

"Quistis! We're heading to Esthar right?" Squall asked.

"Uh, yes," Quistis nodded. "We've begun an attempt to hail them using flares and radio contact."

"We have to break off now!" Squall shouted.

"Squall what's going on?" Quistis asked. "Is this about your vision?"

Squall forced himself to calm down just enough to explain. "Listen to me. I don't know how I know this, I just do. We are walking into a trap. Laguna and the others went to Esthar and were forced into slavery. The guards kept talking about digging something up for…"

But he stopped. What were they digging up? And what for? Why was he filled with dread at the prospect of heading to Esthar at all? Even if there had been these men who were forced into labor, that could have been years ago or perhaps they were indentured servants. Perhaps prisoners.

"Calm down, Squall," Quistis said, putting both her hands on his shoulders. "We've already got a contingency plan if things don't go well. For one thing this Garden can accelerate pretty fast in case you've forgotten."

Squall still felt uneasy but agreed that getting riled up until he knew for certain what the status was would be absolutely pointless.

"I'm going to head to the bridge. I want to see what's going on," Squall said. But before he was out the door, he turned back to Quistis. "No. I've changed my mind."

"Well that was quick," Rinoa giggled.

Squall looked at Quistis. "I want to see Ellone."

"Ellone?" Quistis asked. "She's been in a coma for years now."

"I don't think that's the case," Squall said. He leaned back against the wall. "I can't explain it. I think Ellone has been the one putting these visions in our heads."

Quistis put her hands on her hips and looked at him as though he were starting to annoy her. "That's impossible."

"What makes you say that?" Squall said. "Where else are these visions coming from then? Ellone is the key that ties these visions together. She was there in Winhill and she was the person who Laguna, Kiros and Ward went to Esthar to save."

"But didn't you say in your vision they fled Esthar without saving Ellone?" Rinoa asked.

"That's what I saw, but they could have gone back in later. Or she could have escaped on her own," Squall said. "Look, just let me go see her."

Quistis sighed. "Very well. She's down the hall."

Quistis pointed to a room at the end of the hallway. Squall entered it and saw Ellone laying in a large medical bed. She was a young woman with long brown hair, wearing a white skirt and a blue blouse. Squall looked at her arm and saw a familiar marking. It looked like half the steering wheel of a ship with an odd teardrop in the middle.

"Rinoa, look at this," Squall said, as she walked in. "You were with Edea, that night two years ago. Did she have a marking like this?"

Rinoa shrugged. "I don't remember. But she did wear a set of pauldrons that formed this emblem."

"You realize what this means don't you?" Squall said. "Ellone is a Sorceress."

**No Operation ID  
**0900 Hours. March 16, 2 G.E.  
Torture Chamber, Galbadia Garden

"Wake up Colonel," came a derisive cackle. "You've got a visitor."

Xu's head was spinning. She didn't know where she was or what was happening. She looked around the dark room. Her arms and legs felt stiff, and it became apparent quickly that she was chained to a wall.

A woman in a long black dress walked over and stood directly in front of Xu. The man who cackled at her shuffled away into the darkness.

"Colonel Xu, was it?" The woman asked. "I'd like to have a discussion with you. My name is Edea Kramer."

"Edea… Kramer?" Xu asked.

Edea laughed, and it was the most horrible sound Xu had ever heard. "Yes. The man who sent you out into the cold wilderness to die is my husband."

"The Sorceress and the Headmaster?" Xu's head was splitting as she tried to understand.

"You mustn't judge the old fool too harshly. Nobody believed I would ever turn out like this. Besides which, strictly speaking he isn't _my _husband," Edea smirked.

"What are you talking about?" Xu demanded, some of her strength returning.

"Oh nothing that directly concerns you at any rate," Edea said. "The timeline has continued to alter from what it should have been. And while this is a good sign for me, it also presents me with certain obstacles that need to be overcome. I have chosen to elect a successor to my power early, because I know before too long I will need it. And what a lucky girl you are to be chosen for such a duty."

"Good!" Xu shouted. "Give me your power. I'll use it to destroy this entire Garden!"

"That would be delightful," Edea smiled. "You catch on quickly. But now is not really the time or the place. I'll have to use my power to limit yours, but the process itself can wait no longer. Do not worry, it won't be painful."

Edea placed her hand on Xu's arm. There was a flash of light and Xu felt a sudden rush of magical energy burn through her body. A marking, matching that Edea wore on her back, appeared there.

"There you are. Blessed now with magical powers. You do not need to Junction your power from Guardian Forces, nor draw it from the planet. Magic simply emanates from your very will."

Whatever Edea said, Xu did not feel particularly limited. She summoned a burst of energy to break her bonds and then sent a bolt of electricity shrieking from her palms towards Edea, who simply cast it aside as though it were a fly.

"I bet that power must feel rather liberating, no pun intended. But make no mistake, I still have you on my leash. Your magic cannot harm me or anybody else whom I do not allow."

Xu clenched her fists. "So that's it? You're going to turn me into a puppet?"

"No, my dear. You are already a puppet, I'm simple changing who holds your strings," Edea smiled. "Now we'll be in Esthar very soon. A great battle will take place in three days. And you will be instrumental in taking down my enemies."

"I won't do anything you tell me," Xu said. "Go on and torture me and kill me if you please, but I will not serve you."

"I expected as much," Edea said. "But I'm confident that by the time we get to Esthar you will serve my purpose. And not by coercion, but of your own free will. I am that which lives throughout all time, and I have seen it. You can do as you like until we get to Esthar, I don't really care what."

And with those ominous words, Edea left the room.

**Centra Outpost  
**1030 Hours, March 16 2 G.E.  
Location: Centra, Centra Ruins, Fountain Plaza

Cole was wandering around the Fountain Plaza, making sure everybody was prepared to move. "Okay guys. We've gotten word from Dark Garden that we're going to be sitting tight here for a while as they attempt to contact Esthar. However, I suggest that we move closer to the shoreline so that if they need to they can make a quick extract of us."

"Good thinking," said one of the soldiers looking through a pair of binoculars. "Hey check it out, you can almost make out the Garden's flares from here."

"That's impossible, we're over 1000 km from the Garden right now," Cole said, taking his binoculars. He looked through them. "But that's definitely a flare… and look where it's coming from! That's a ship!"

No sooner had he said that, the object became visible to the naked eye. All the soldiers rushed around the plaza to get a better look of the approaching vessel. It was large and white with an enormous sail. It looked almost like a water dragon.

The boat pulled along the shore of the Centra Ruins and a large troop of soldiers in white uniforms rushed off.

Some of the soldiers in the plaza readied their weapons, but Cole raised his hand. "Stand down, soldiers. I know these guys."

The white-robed soldiers marched up the stairs to the fountain plaza and the leader saluted Cole, who returned the salute.

"We heard that you might be here and could use a lift back to civilization," the leader grinned.

"It's good to see you White SeeD boys. Elite of the elite when it comes to fighting, but can you get us back to Dark Garden?" Cole asked.

"We should be able to, yes," the leader nodded. "That's the reason we have come."

"Who sent you? It wasn't Dark Garden, they told us to stay put."

"Ah yes, that might be a concern of course. We were sent by the Esthar Liberation Forces and General Laguna Loire. They have intercepted a transmission from Dark Garden and your friends are headed for a trap."


	22. Chapter 21: Battle Plans

**Chapter XXI: Battle Plans**

**Operation Broken Wing  
**1900 Hours, March 16 2 G.E.  
Fisherman's Horizon, Intercontinental Railroad, Sea

"Seasick?" Raurk asked, patting Dent on the back as he leaned over the edge of the main railroad.

"That ship was terrible," Dent sighed.

Getting onboard the vessel at Dollet had been surprisingly easier than they had anticipated. However that was mostly due to the fact that the entire military population from Dollet seemed to have vacated. Irvine had figured that Galbadia had recalled troops from their provinces to help the attack on Dark Garden, but even if that was the case it seemed unnecessary considering the size of the Garden's attack force.

"Hey guess what," Zell said, calling over to Raurk and Dent. "We got a visitor."

Zell and Jenson walked over towards them, and they appeared to be escorting a man in a military uniform.

"No way. Is that General Caraway?" Nida asked, standing up. He and Irvine had been sitting on an adjacent bench playing cards.

"Ex-General," Caraway corrected. "Edea didn't like my policies."

"Well shit, having a Galbadian Commander on our side is bound to help out," Raurk said.

"Didn't I just say that I'm no longer associated with them? Edea runs everything now. It's been that way since Deling was killed," Caraway said.

"Either way, as a former Galbadian citizen, I welcome you to the party," Irvine said, saluting Caraway.

Caraway hesitantly returned the salute. There was a brief round of introductions, before Raurk asked the obvious question.

"So how'd you get here?"

Caraway nodded towards the bike he'd parked a half-mile down the bridge.

"I was heading here to get a ship to Centra. But from what I've picked up on radio chatter in the city, it appears Galbadia Garden is no longer in Centra. It's making a move towards Esthar," Caraway said.

"You were going to attack the Sorceress yourself?" Nida asked. "What the hell would possess you to do that?"

"The big man's gotta prove a point," Raurk chuckled. "Normally I don't approve of hitting women, but you might be doing us all a favor."

Caraway frowned. "Yes. Were it so simple. Turns out we've got a much bigger problem."

"What's that?" Irvine asked.

"Edea and the forces of Galbadia aren't launching an attack on Dark Garden. They're about to strike Esthar," Caraway said.

"Esthar?" Dent asked. "But Esthar has been isolated for years. They have no intention of making war against Galbadia."

"That's hardly the point," Caraway said. "But, as it happens, Esthar has been preparing for years to strike. You see Esthar is ruled by another Sorceress. Sorceress Adel."

"Another Sorceress?" Irvine asked. "How many of these things are there?"

"And how did you know that?" Dent asked. "How do you know so much about a hidden country?"

"Edea let slip some crucial details about the country to her top advisors the first time she planned to attack Esthar. This was about a year ago. That's why we were going to be executed. Before she planned her second attack, she wanted to make sure any potential loose tongues were unable to waggle," Caraway said. "But the Sorceress Adel is only half the problem."

"Oh goody," Irvine said, folding his arms. "You mean there's more?"

"There is," Caraway nodded. "Have you ever heard of the Lunar Cry?"

"It's the thing that wiped out Centra," Zell said. "A whole horde of monsters from the moon migrated to the planet, and just eliminated everything."

"Correct," Caraway nodded. "And while it normally occurs every thousand years- or so scientists believe- Adel has found a way to harness that power. Now what I'm about to tell you, I only just found out recently, while interrogating some of my… old friends. Shas been unearthing and rebuilding for years now the Lunatic Pandora."

"Lunatic Pandora?" Irvine asked.

"It is a massive floating fortress in the shape of a stone pillar. Inside is a pillar of crystal which somehow has the capacity to summon these monsters… when powered by a certain location called Tears Point in Esthar," Caraway said. "And she is planning on calling an army of monsters to attack us with."

"So Edea is trying to stop that?" Zell asked.

"Not exactly. She just doesn't want Adel to have control of the monsters. Oh, that reminds me. That monster you saw on the train? One of her monsters," Caraway nodded. "We were developing them as an anti-monster task force, but they were turned into weapons of war."

"And that ability they have to just… make things disappear?" Zell asked.

"They can absorb anything living in their surroundings as a fuel source to make them more powerful," Caraway said. "Only a handful were successfully produced, but there will be some deployed in the battle. Against monsters like that, even a full company of soldiers would have difficulty."

"So… what are we going to do?" Irvine asked.

"We need to communicate with Dark Garden using this town's radio connection. If they are near Esthar they will find themselves in the midst of a battle," Caraway said.

"Galbadia, Esthar, Dark Garden. And an army of Monsters," Nida said. "Jeez. A battle of four armies."

"Yes," Caraway sighed. "Edea has planned her attack very well. Whoever wins the day will have utmost control of the world, and while Esthar has a powerful army, nobody can match the sheer numbers of the Galbadian forces."

"And we're marching right into this mess?" Raurk asked. "Sounds like a plan to me."

"We won't be alone," Jensen said, snapping his fingers. "I've just had an idea. Can I borrow your bike?"

"What for?" Caraway asked.

"Before I was SeeD, I was part of the Timber Foxes. There was a much bigger Resistance than even the Galbadian Generals knew about. It wasn't just Timber. Dollet and Winhill were involved too. The makings of a respectable army, almost 1000 strong," Jensen said.

"A battle of five armies," Caraway said, folding his arms. "But 1000 soldiers is just a paper tiger in front of a storm compared to the might of Galbadia."

"With Dollet's ships and Timbers electronics we're a force to be reckoned with. Besides Dark Garden will back us up. They might even have some remnants from Trabia Garden. We're gonna need all the help we can get," Jensen said.

Caraway nodded. "All right then. Irvine, Dent, Raurk. Try to contact Dark Garden. Zell and Nida secure our ride. Jensen, you go round up as many troops as you can."

"You got it. Never thought I'd see the day where I'd be fighting alongside you," Jensen smirked.

"Oh don't worry about it," Caraway said folding his arms. "You'll probably have the honor of dying alongside me too."


	23. Chapter 22: Beginning of the End

**Chapter XXII: Beginning of the End**

**Operation Tribute  
**2100 Hours, March 16 2 G.E.

"Squall, Quistis, Rinoa! To the bridge immediately!" The voice over the loudspeaker rang.

Squall had been sitting in Ellone's room the entire time. He'd been trying to make some sense of this new information. How had Ellone been made a Sorceress? Why was she in a coma if she had the powers of a Sorceress? How could she transmit the images she did inside their heads?

Squall stood up and made his way towards the bridge where Cid, Rinoa and Quistis were already waiting.

"What's going on?" Squall asked.

"We're not certain… but it looks like the Lunar Cry," Cid replied. "You remember reading about that right?"

Squall had heard about that in his studies. He rushed to the front of the bridge and saw in the distance a massive flood of monsters falling to earth at some point in the distance of Esthar.

"They'll need our help. We should fly in and start helping the evacuation," Rinoa suggested.

"I agree," Cid replied. "But that might not be feasible."

"Sir! We've tracked movement from our rear! It looks like a ship!" One of the soldiers on the bridge called out. "They're requesting permission to board our vessel."

Quistis looked out the back of the bridge and smiled. "Headmaster! It's White Seed's ship!"

"We'll need all the help we can get," Cid said. "Give them permission to board!"

"Aye sir!" the soldier replied. "They say they have the group from Centra. Cole is with them, but he's injured sir."

"Well that's one worry off our mind," Cid said.

There were a few seconds of silence before several beams of light began to shine in the distance.

"What's that?" Quistis asked.

As they grew closer it became apparent what they were.

"All hands brace for impact!" The pilot shouted.

The beams of light pulverized the outer hull of Dark Garden.

"Have the White Seed units boarded yet?" Cid asked.

"They're all aboard, sir! Aye!"

"Take evasive action!"

"Yes sir!"

The pilot steered Dark Garden along the side of the coast, narrowly avoiding a few additional rounds.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Zone whined as he ran into the bridge. "Why are they firing on us?"

"Guess this is their response to our hailing," Squall cursed.

"Sir!" Cole shouted as he also ran onto the bridge. "Galbadia Garden is invading Esthar!"

"I see. So they think that we're assisting Galbadia. They believe we're attacking them on all flanks," Cid said.

"Not quite," Cole said. "Sir, Esthar is under the control of another Sorceress named Adel. She's the one who summoned the Lunar Cry. She's planning on taking out both Sorceress Edea and SeeD in one fell swoop."

"You mean we're going to have to go against the might of two sorceresses and an army of monsters?" Cid asked. "We're hopelessly outmatched in this fight."

"We can't keep running forever," Squall said quietly.

The group turned and looked at him.

"We're SeeD. Special forces. We've all been trained for this kind of situation," Squall said. "You say we're outmatched, but Esthar is fighting a battle on two fronts. Odds are we won't even face half of their might."

"Even so, Squall…" Cid began.

"Sir. We're faster, stronger, and there's no way they'll be expecting us to charge against this kind of firepower, which gives us the element of surprise," Squall said. "If you can get us close to the capitol, I can have a strike team assembled in moments to take down Sorceress Adel."

Cid rubbed his head. "Things are not as simple as that."

"Then once we're in, you can retreat if you wish, Cid," Squall said. "I don't understand exactly what's going on, or why I feel the way that I feel, but I can just tell that this battle is the battle that's going to shape the face of the world. It's a battle that SeeD should not run from."

Cid pondered Squall's words for a moment. He looked out onto the country of Esthar which was rapidly become more and more engulfed in the sights and sounds of gun and mortar fire.

"Get all hands to battle stations at once!" Cid ordered. "Squall, prepare your strike team."

"Yes, sir!" Squall nodded.

**Operation Cold Snap  
**2100 Hours, March 16 2 G.E.  
Location: Forgotten Oubliette, Trabia Crater Area, Trabia

"Well this is lovely," Fabian said. They'd come across a dead end, exactly as Selphie had predicted. The only way to go from here was up, or down.

"Down is the easier path it looks like. But it's awfully dark down there," said one of the soldiers.

"No," Selphie said. "We have to try and find some way to climb up. Does anybody have a rope or grappling hook?"

"Well," Fabian rubbed his chin. "I do know Float magic. But it won't get me that high. But I might be able to reach the top of these monitors and I can try to climb that way."

The monitors towered above them at 15 feet high. Behind them were several layers of pipes and cables that must have gone one for what seemed like at least a hundred feet before reaching the catwalk. Even if Fabian _did _somehow manage this task, it'd be almost impossible for him to make it to the catwalk without help of some kind.

"We'll all go together," Selphie said.

"If it doesn't work-"

"Then we're dead anyways. We all go together," Selphie repeated firmly.

Fabian shrugged. "Okay. Try to reach the top of the monitors. The Float spell doesn't last very long and I only have enough charges to cast it on each of us once."

"Then what?" Asked one of the soldiers.

"Then, we climb," Fabian said. "Get ready now."

Fabian cast Float on them all in turn. They lifted a few feet off the ground. Fabian reached his hands up and just barely gripped the top of the monitors. Selphie got her hands on the top next, but as she was much shorter than Fabian pulling herself up was out of the question. Fortunately one of the soldiers next to her lifted her up as she got up there. They each made it to the top of the monitors without much difficulty, but the hard part was climbing the mess of pipes.

"I'll take point on this one," Fabian said. "Fall in behind me. Everybody watch each other's backs and we'll get up this thing safely."

That seemed like hoping beyond hope to Selphie as Fabian slipped more than a few times on the pipes. One of the soldiers next to her fell all the way down to the top of the monitors, but he got back up, cursing loudly.

"You injured?" Fabian asked.

"I'm fine, sir. Don't leave without me, I'm coming up."

Despite Fabian's hard-work it was actually one of the soldiers who was the first to reach the top of the main pipe. The soldier stood up, but the catwalk was a good three feet above the top of his outstretched fingers.

"I'm gonna try to jump, sir."

"Negative!" Fabian called. "Wait a second and we'll come give you a boost."

"It's fine sir, I can make it."

He jumped up and managed to reach the side railing of the catwalk. Everything seemed to be okay at first. A moment or two passed before Selphie realized he wasn't struggling to pull himself up. The crackling sound that rang through the air made it apparent what was happening to him.

"Let go!" Fabian shouted.

But the soldier's muscles were contracting, making releasing his grip of the bar impossible. After a few horrifying seconds, the body went limp. The electrical current had stopped somehow. His hands relaxed and his body fell to the pipe, landing with a sickening crack. His head bent completely the wrong way as what was left of him slid out of sight in the mess of pipes and wires.

"Oh my god," Selphie gasped.

"We have to keep moving," Fabian said. "Any of these wires could be electrically charged. Keep moving and watch yourself!"

Fabian and Selphie made it to the pipe.

"That railing is electrically charged," Fabian said. "But I know how to take care of that."

Fabian took out his weapon.

"Are you going to shoot it?" Selphie asked.

"Nope," Fabian said. "Physics 101. If you ground the charge, the charge is neutralized. This pipe should service the need for a ground. I'm going to try and use my gun to connect the two."

"Will that work?" Selphie asked.

Fabian sighed. "Probably not. There's too many variables to know if this is going to work or not."

"Then don't do something stupid and rash. Bend down," Selphie said.

"What?" Fabian asked.

"If you boost me up I think I can jump over the railing," Selphie said. "Then I can try to lift you up."

Fabian nodded. He lifted her onto his shoulders, being careful not to slip. He was distracted by the sound of one of his soldiers crying out in pain. He looked down and saw another soldier shocked horribly, but his comrade was there to push him off the wire.

"We need to hurry up. I think this place is coming back to life," Fabian said.

Selphie hadn't noticed, but lights had started turning on all throughout the facility.

"Okay," Selphie said. "Stay still."

With balance that Fabian could certainly not have mustered himself, Selphie slowly rose from her knees to her feet on Fabian's shoulders. The two looked like some deranged set of circus performers at the moment. She leapt as hard as she could and rolled over onto the metal catwalk.

The soldiers below cheered and clapped and, renewed by her success continued to move forward. Fabian lifted the other three soldiers up and over the catwalk.

"What about you?" Selphie asked.

"I might be able to cast Float once more," Fabian said. "Let me try this."

"I thought you said you were out of energy," Selphie said.

"I'll try this," Fabian said. He cast the spell and slowly began to lift up. He was within feet of Selphie's hand. Within a foot. Inches away.

Fabian clasped her hand and she pulled him quickly over the barrier.

"Thanks," Fabian sighed. "That was about as close as I'd ever want it to get."

All the lights in this facility had come on now, and it was even more vast than it looked in the dark.

"Why did the power come back on all of a sudden?" Selphie asked.

"Freeze!" came a voice from behind them. They turned to see a two soldiers standing behind them. They all wore the white and blue uniform of Esthar.

"Whoa, relax!" Fabian shouted. "We got stuck down here."

"I said, don't move!" The soldier shouted.

But a three-round burst blared just behind Fabian's ear, knocking the soldiers down. Fabian turned around quickly to see a man with long black hair, wearing a blue denim jacket and jeans. A bandoleer and some grenades were draped around his hips and standing behind him were a group of people all wielding a variety of weapons.

"Sorry about the eardrum, buddy," he said. "But you'll get over it."

Selphie knew this person. "Sir… Laguna?"

The man smirked. "I don't know about 'Sir', but you got the name right. Laguna Loire of the Esthar Resistance Group, at your service."


	24. Chapter 23: The Battle of Five Armies

Chapter XXIII: The Battle of Five Armies

**Esthar Resistance Forces- North  
**2300 Hours, March 16 2 G.E.  
Location: Forgotten Sanctum, Trabia Crater Area, Trabi

"You've been having dreams about us?" Laguna asked, while stirring the contents of a large cooking pot. "Well I don't know what to make of that really."

The Sanctum was deep within the Oubliette, although it didn't look very different. The monitors had been organized and were displaying what appeared to be security camera footage from various strategic locations around the sprawling capitol of Esthar, but other than that the place was fairly messy. A rudimentary dormitory had been made out of one of the larger chambers, and sleeping bags were piled in only slightly neat rows and columns. A fire was lit here or there, not much bigger than the one they currently sat around.

Laguna, Ward and Kiros sat on one side, and Selphie and Fabian the other. Between the five of them the circle was almost complete, albeit most of that was due to Ward's immense size.

"What I would like to know is how a bunch of SeeD's found their way into the Forgotten Oubliette," Laguna asked. "I thought only the Resistance knew about that."

Selphie recounted the story about the Battle of Trabia Canyon and how they'd uncovered the hidden door.

"Hmm," Laguna sighed. "That's troubling. Before too long we could have Galbadian soldiers breathing down our rear entrance. But it seems like they're mostly occupied with the battle in Esthar right now."

"What battle?" Fabian asked.

"Oh jeez, you haven't heard," Laguna chuckled. "Sorry to rattle on. Let me get you up to speed."

"Shouldn't we deal with those Esthar soldiers first?" Kiros asked. "If they've got scouts in this area…"

"Yeah, yeah Kiros. Send a detachment and report back in an hour. If you get in trouble-"

"Yes, I know, you won't be able to help anyways," Kiros grunted. He nodded to Selphie and Fabian. "Pardon us. We have to make sure we aren't about to be ambushed."

"Kiros is a good man. He believes it's better to be safe than uncertain," Laguna smirked.

"Better safe than _sorry,_" Kiros corrected. "Honestly, have you forgotten how to speak altogether?"

Kiros left the room and Laguna returned to his explanation.

"From our intelligence - which is extensive as you can see – Galbadia Garden, Esthar, monsters summoned by the Lunar Cry and your Dark Garden are locked in combat as we speak. After we confirm that we're not being followed, we are going to leap right into the fray and attack the city from underneath," Laguna explained.

Ward made an odd hand gestured that looked like turning a manhole.

"Ward says we'll be using the subterranean passages which we've had mapped out for years. The only reason we never attacked before is because using those routes would lead them straight back to our hideout," Laguna advised.

"What kind of resistance will we be facing once we emerge?" Fabian asked.

"It is the Esthar Palace, and home to Sorceress Adel's most elite unite of guards. Most of them should be deployed into combat, but I'd still wager there's a massive security team protecting her with their lives," Laguna explained. "Once we get inside Esthar Palace, we won't know what to expect, so be prepared for anything."

"How many soldiers do we have?" Selphie asked.

"Including your squad? Roughly 200," Laguna sighed. "It's not an ideal army, but as a small strike team focused on one target, it's perfect. Thank goodness for the fortuitous circumstances of this three-pronged attack."

"So when do we move out?" Fabian asked.

Ward made a circular motion with his hand then pointed a finger straight up.

"Ward says midnight. All these big operations go down at midnight, just like in the movies," Laguna chuckled.

Ward rolled his eyes and made another hand gesture, which Selphie and Fabian didn't need to have translated.

**Galbadian Forces- West  
**2300 Hours, March 16, 2 G.E.  
Location: Skies over Esthar, Esthar Capitol Area, Esthar

Alarm bells were ringing all throughout the floating fortress of Galbadia Garden. Xu stood at attention in a hangar bay which was slowly opening. She stood at the front of a platoon of Galbadian Special Forces. Standing in front of her, pacing back and forth in front of the entire Battalion was Seifer.

"Esthar's forces are formidable. And they have the might of a Sorceress behind them," Seifer said. "This will not be an easy fight."

Seifer paused and chuckled to himself.

"Of course, that's the way I prefer it. You, on the other hand might not find it so comforting. Too bad, that's what we're here to do. Fight a battle. Without strife there can be no glory. That holds true today more than any other. You are soldiers of Galbadia, and the hand of the true Sorceress, Sorceress Edea. You will bring her wrath to any who oppose her!

"My… old friends," Seifer paused again and rubbed his chin. "They're providing us some assistance, rather unwittingly. They have forced Esthar's forces to divide into two fronts, giving us a significant advantage. We'll be over the target in just a moment! This will be an Aerial drop, so be sure not to lose your lunches."

The hangar door was now completely open. "Go now into glorious battle! Spill the blood of all who would dare oppose us!"

The tracks they were standing on lit up, and one by one they all began to glide towards the door with their jump-packs. Xu didn't care what Edea or Seifer said. She wasn't fighting for their glory. She was going to find Adel and kill her, and then kill herself. She would not be a puppet for any Sorceress.

**Dark Garden Forces- East  
**2100 Hours, March 16 2 G.E.  
Location: Esthar Outskirts, Esthar Capitol Area, Esthar

"We're running hot!" Cid shouted over the intercom. "Our hull is burnt, but she'll hold. Squall! Make sure your strike team is ready for the drop in five minutes! Secondary offensive team report to the main docking bay! Support staff, get into position!"

Squall, Quistis and Rinoa ran through the halls towards the main docking bay. There were three confiscated Galbadian motorcycles which they would be using.

Cole showed them how to utilize them.

"I wish I could come with you guys," Cole sighed. "But I'm useless in combat. This is your fight."

"You can do something useful," Squall said. "Take control of the rear 50-cal mounted gun. We're going to need all the cover fire we can get."

Cole smirked. "I'm liking you more and more every day man. Okay, I got your guys back!"

The company behind Squall strapped on their parachutes and readied their weapons.

"This is just like we've trained for guys," Squall said. "Don't open your chutes until the very last minute. The second you hit the ground, detach immediately and start firing!"

"We are two minutes from the insertion point! Squall you have the green light to prepare your drop! Offensive batteries, fire at will!"

The Garden began to shake as every single gun that the Garden had began to fire in unison.

"Secondary offensive team, fifteen minutes until your insertion point. Make sure you are ready to drop. Support team, commence operations!" Cid ordered.

The docking bay platform lowered slowly. Even though the Garden was flying relatively low they were still at least 15,000 feet up.

"These cycles will hover," Squall said. "Not fly. Deploy the rockets at the last possible second, just like the chutes."

"Squall and primary offensive team! Insertion in T-30 seconds!

"This is it everybody!" Quistis called. "This is why we became SeeDs. Let's show them what Balamb Garden's special forces can do!"

There was a rallying cry from the soldiers as they all moved into position.

"T-5….4…."

Squall revved his cycle and Rinoa and Quistis followed.

"3….2…."

"Here goes," Rinoa cried.

"1… Engage!"

Squall, Rinoa and Quistis hit the throttle on their bikes and launched over the edge of the platform. Before too long every soldier in the first team had jumped and were following right behind them. Bullets whizzed past them so close that even though they were freefalling, Squall could still feel the air displacement by the heavy 50 calibur rounds.

But Cole had their back. Their own 50-cal reigned fiery death from above, taking out two of the enemy battery towers in one quick burst.

"Good work, Cole!" Squall shouted over his radio.

But the descent was far from over. More battery towers engaged them. With the air ringing in his ears Squall could only hear the faint echoes of the screams of some of the men behind him who'd been hit. The ground was rushing up to meet him. They must be at 1,000 feet now.

"Okay everybody!" Quistis called over her radio. "Now!"

All the chutes opened almost at once, except for one soldier who's pack had been cut through with a bullet. Rinoa and Quistis engaged their hover engines, but Squall kept going, cutting a path across the air to try and save the soldier.

"Squall! You're too low! You have to engage your engine now!" Quistis ordered.

"I can reach him!" Squall shouted.

"500 feet! Squall your bike won't survive if you engage the engines any later!" Quistis shouted.

He was so close. Ten feet… five…

A bullet barrage cut through the soldier just before Squall got to him. He screamed and his body went limp.

"Damn it!" Squall shouted. He hit the thrusters, but at this point he was far too low. Even with the energy from his hover engine he still touched down with enough force to put a dent in the road. Squall fell over and clutched his stomach.

Quistis and Rinoa rushed up to him.

"Squall! Are you okay?!" Rinoa cried.

Squall tried to stand up. He wasn't too badly injured considering, but his legs shook violently and his head was ringing.

"My bike is destroyed," Squall cursed. "But I'm okay."

"We'll share one. Come on," Rinoa insisted.

"No, I'll continue on foot-"

"Squall!" Rinoa ordered. "Don't be stupid and listen to us for a change! Get on my bike right now!"

Squall was impressed. Rinoa might be bossy sometimes but she was very rarely decisive like this. He slowly stood up. "Okay have it your way. But I'm driving."

Rinoa smirked. "Yes, sir."

"Okay!" Squall ordered. "The secondary offensive team will be meeting us at the town center. Galbadian Forces are touching down as we speak on the west side of town, so we'll likely converge in the center. Our orders are NOT to engage the Galbadian Forces, but to take down the center of Sorceress Adel's power, the Esthar Palace. As for the monster hordes, only take down the ones that are in our way to the Palace!"

"Yes sir!" the company replied.

Squall turned back to look at Rinoa. "And you. Stay close to me, understood?"

Rinoa waved her hand. "I'm not completely incompetent, you know."

**Timber Resistance Forces  
**2100 Hours, March 16 2 G.E.  
Location: Timber Beaches, Timber Forest, Galbadia

Jenson had made it back to Timber much quicker than he expected and within a few hours, the rallying cry had gone around Timber and Dollet. The vessels from Dollet had already arrived and were being loaded with men and women from the resistance forces.

"Let's get a move on. The battle's already starting without us! We don't want to keep them waiting!" Jenson shouted.

Location: The Great Salt Lake, Esthar Outskirts, Esthar

"Look at that! The entire night sky is lit up with gunfire!" Zell exclaimed.

"Fantastic. And we're trying to break in with no army to back us up," Dent sighed.

"Quick your whining kid. You gotta learn to live a little," Raurk replied.

"Living is at the forefront of my mind right now. That's why I'm whining," Dent retorted.

"Sees like the Timber Resistance pulled through okay. They're loading up right now. Running those vessels at top speed they can be here in about three hours," Caraway said.

"So we just gotta wait?" Irvine asked, rubbing his head. "Sounds boring."

"You remind me of somebody," Zell sighed. "Waiting is a perfectly good idea right now. I'm with Dent."

"Just because we don't have an army doesn't mean we can't cause a ruckus," Caraway said. He pointed to a small grate he'd just opened. "Subterranean passages. I'd be willing to bet that, if this is a sewer system it leads right underneath Esthar."

"You're just gung-ho to go into an unwinnable situation huh?" Dent asked.

"I'm a military man. I see any opportunity I focus on that," Caraway replied.

"Yeah Dent," Raurk replied. "Shut up and get in the hole."

"I don't suppose I have any say in this, huh?" Nida asked.

"Sure you do. You can go first and tell us what it's like down there," Irvine smirked, patting Nida on the shoulder.


	25. Chapter 24: Convenient Death

Chapter XXIV: Convenient Death

**Dark Garden Forces- Central  
**2330 Hours, March 16 2 G.E.  
Location: Esthar Shopping Plaza, Esthar Capitol Area, Esthar

There seemed to be no end to bullets. Gunfire was the new rain. It had only been a few hours, but Squall could not even remember what silence sounded like. His ground team had reached a critical junction in the city near a small shopping plaza but had been pinned down by mortar fire from the dangerously close Galbadia Garden which loomed overhead like the body of a particularly vengeful God.

"Where's the diversion?!" Quistis shouted, ducking behind cover. "I would have thought they'd take the bait by now!"

"Secondary team's pinned down!" Said one of the soldiers. "They got dropped hot into a nest of monsters. Galbadia didn't even notice them!"

"We need to get into that palace on the double!" Quistis shouted to Squall. "We're getting ripped to shreds out here!"

"Right!" Squall nodded. "See if Dark Garden can give us some air support for a few moments so we can dodge the mortar fire!"

A soldier near Quistis began rattling off instructions on a mobile radio.

"That will leave our secondary team without any backup though!" Rinoa said.

"It's only for a few minutes. Besides we're the ones that need backup right now," Squall said.

"Dark Garden says secondary team can't afford the loss of air support. It's a massacre out there. They're actually trying to clear a safe LZ so they can be extracted," the soldier said. "Dark Garden says they should be clear to offer support in about 30 minutes."

"Half an hour?!" Squall shouted. "Okay. With or without support we need to make a blind rush for that palace. We won't survive another half hour out here."

Suddenly the doors of the nearby palace blew open in a massive explosion and a small force of soldiers rushed out, overtaking the Galbadian soldiers.

"This is new," Rinoa said, looking over at the soldiers.

"Those are Esthar's troops. About time they made it to the fight. They left the gate wide open too," Squall said.

"What are you thinking Squall?" Quistis asked.

"Our orders are to assassinate Sorceress Adel. That's a job that you only need a handful of SeeD soldiers for," Squall replied. "Grab the bikes. We're going to rush the gate. The rest of you, give us cover fire until we clear the palace gates then fall back to the insertion point."

The soldiers were in no position or mood to argue. They readied their weapons as Squall, Rinoa and Quistis mounted the two remaining hoverbikes. With a kick the two bikes rushed down the street with massive mortar shells breaking up the road around them. Quistis ran over two Galbadian soldiers as she dodged the artillery and Squall and Rinoa managed to cut a path straight through the middle towards the gate.

"Not so fast!" Came a voice from above.

Squall slammed on the brakes of the bike as Seifer landed on the front and fired a round from his gunblade, missing Rinoa's head by inches. Squall leapt off the bike and tackled Seifer.

"Rinoa, take Quistis and get inside now!" Squall ordered.

"What about you?!" Rinoa shouted.

Seifer kicked Squall in the stomach knocking him back and raised his gunblade again. Squall reached for his and the two were locked in combat smashing steel against one another. Quistis grabbed Rinoa's arm, pulled her onto the bike and drove inside the palace.

Squall dodged a bolt of fire from Seifer's fist.

"Getting a little old for cheap tricks aren't we?" Squall shouted as he ran his blade horizontally, just missing Seifer's stomach.

Seifer parried with a vertical slash, knocking Squall's sword off-course and then pushed forward knocking Squall back.

"You don't get it, do you?" Seifer asked. "I've become the Sorceress's Knight. She's given me the powers needed to protect her, not that I needed them to overcome you at any rate."

"Why, Seifer?" Squall asked. "You never played by the rules but you use to have some sense of honor. What do you get by helping the Sorceress enslave the world like this?"

"You talk about honor? While SeeD scurries around in the background killing people in secret, Galbadia has always attacked directly. You mercenary scum are all alike, acting like you're some tragic underdog heroes just because you're more poorly outfitted," Seifer laughed. "By this time tomorrow SeeD will be dead, Adel will be dead. And nobody will remain to challenge Edea's rule."

"You want Adel dead. Of course. That's why you let the girls go on ahead," Squall shrugged.

"No point in arguing over who gets the pleasure of killing her. My lady Edea will soon be making her way to the Lunatic Pandora. That wonderful creation is a more worthy flagship for her greatness, and the ability to summon monsters is just a bonus.

"But I prattle on. This is a moment I've been waiting for as long as I can remember. I'm going to kill you Squall," Seifer said moving towards Squall raising his gunblade slowly. "Thanks for all the fun."

Just as the sword slashed through the air something whooshed down in front of Squall and the sound of metal on metal grated through the entire plaza. Seifer's blade had smashed into a massive anchor that had stuck itself into the ground in front of Squall.

"Yo! Crew cut!" Laguna shouted from the top of the palace. He leapt down behind Squall with his submachine gun in hand. "Ever heard not to stab a guy when he's down?"

"That's kick, Laguna," said Kiros landing beside him.

Ward landed last and paying no mind to Seifer walked over and grabbed his anchor.

"Quite a backup team," Seifer chuckled. "Fine. My moment can wait until you're all dead. I need to return to Edea's side anyways. Go take care of Adel for us."

He turned and in a flash he had disappeared.

"Laguna, Ward and Kiros, correct?" Squall asked.

"I take it you too have had dreams about us, huh?" Laguna smirked.

"How did-"

"Squall!" Selphie cried as she opened the doors to the palace. "Over here!"

Squall turned and saw Selphie waving with Rinoa and Quistis standing beside them.

"And that's not all! Come quick!" She yelled.

The four men walked into the palace. The last person in a small group was being lifted up out of a nearby sewer grate and Squall looked over to see who it was.

"Zell?! " Squall gasped. "Irvine! Raurk! Dent! Nida! You guys are all okay?"

"We've had one hell of a trip since we lost contact which we'll go into detail about later," said Irvine. "Oh and Rinoa. Somebody you might care about is also here."

He pointed to General Caraway. Rinoa smiled widely and rushed over to hug her father. He patted her back.

"What of Jenson?" Squall asked.

"Organizing the Timber Resistance. You'll be getting some reinforcements soon," Zell said.

"For right now," Laguna began. "We need to go stop Adel . We can worry about Edea and the Lunatic Pandora later. Not to mention that Garden."

"One Sorceress and some bodyguards against this entourage?" Irvine asked. "I daresay we have her outnumbered."

"Adel is powerful," Kiros said. "Even with our numbers it will still be a nearly impossible fight. Never underestimate a Sorceress."

The group walked up through the palace towards the throne room at the top. There were no soldiers remaining in this palace, all had rushed outside to join the battle. When they finally reached the throne room they saw a single chair sitting in a massive circular room. Sitting in the chair, facing them was a very tall woman with long red hair, tied in a braided ponytail behind her. Her arms were muscular and massive. Squall could tell that when she stood up she would be twice his height.

"What pitiful little band is this that comes so willingly into my presence?" Adel asked with a hideous smirk on her lips.

"Adel, honey, you're looking hideously ugly as always," Laguna smirked.

"Laguna Loire. Still angry about Ellone after all these years?" Adel asked.

"I managed to get her out but because of your barricade I was never able to see her," Laguna grunted, seeming annoyed for the first time.

"Well let's have a little reunion then," Adel smiled cruelly as she stood up. As she did so she revealed another woman's head and arms jutting from her chest.

"Ellone!" Laguna shouted, rushing at Adel.

Adel flung him to the side of the room with a wave of her hand.

"She's junctioned Ellone to her body… how is that even possible?" Asked Rinoa who appeared as though she was going to be sick.

"For all these years I didn't know where to find Ellone and you fools brought her back in range of my Capitol. She was so close all I had to do was just summon her back to me and here she is now. One Sorceress Junctioned unto another," Adel laughed cruelly.

"I don't understand," Caraway asked. "Why do you need her power?"

"Ellone has a gift that Sorceress Ultimecia has been looking for. In her haste to capture it, she knocked her power out of sync and as a result changed the flow and course of history," Adel grinned.

"Sorceress Ultimecia?" Zell asked.

"What power are you talking about?" Quistis asked.

"Ellone can control the flow of time. She can take people back into the past, and even glimpse vaguely into the future. Edea is not acting of her own desire, you fools. Ultimecia is using Ellone's power to control Edea from the distant future," Adel said. "She seeks to capture Ellone and bring her into the future with her. There she can achieve her true desire: Time Compression."

"Time… Compression?" Rinoa asked.

"The past, present and future all forced together to exist in one moment. A nightmarish existence for her foes, and a world in which only she could truly exist," Adel said. "I am preventing her from doing this by making it my duty to destroy Ellone once and for all. You ignorant mortals are too impertinent for your own good. You require the rule of an enlightened Sorceress to prevent you from eating each other."

"We'll take our chances you miserable bitch!" Laguna shouted raising his weapon and firing at Adel's head. All of the bullets flew off course, just barely missing the others, ramming into the metal walls with a loud grating sound.

"I took Raine from you, Laguna. The mother of your child who you left for the orphanage. I took Ellone, your step-child. And before I take your life, I think I will take the life of your child as well," Adel said.

She used her free arm to conjure a metal shard and threw it towards Squall. There was no time to dodge, Squall raised his gunblade and the metal traveled up the blade with a hiss missing his head and sticking into the wall behind him.

"Enough of this."

A woman leapt down in front of Adel.

"So, Ultimecia has another puppet for me to play with?" Adel smirked.

"Yeah," the woman said. "And she's a bitch."

In one swift movement she drew a crest in front of Adel which glew bright blue. Ellone emerged from Adel's body as though erupting from a cocoon.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Adel screamed. "How can you possess that kind of power?!"

"Like this."

The crest burned orange and Adel's body melted away in an explosion of fire, blood and sinew. As the last shrieks of Adel ended the room was left in complete silence. The woman turned to the rest of them.

"Xu?" Selphie asked.

Xu shook her head. "Not anymore. A puppet of Ultimecia. But don't worry, I've thought of a way out."

She lifted Squall's gunblade and pointed it at herself.

"What are you talking about?! " Squall shouted.

"Please, kill me," Xu said. "I should have died that day in Trabia. If you don't kill me, Ultimecia will simply make me kill all of you."

"I won't," Squall said. "We can figure something out!"

"Xu," said Ellone as she slowly rose to her feet. She placed her arms around her, embracing her from behind. "Be at peace."

The mark on Xu's body disappeared in a small green light. Ellone fell to the floor unconscious.

"Xu? How do you feel? Xu!" Squall looked over to Xu who was now on her knees.

"I told you," Xu said. "I should have died that day in Trabia. It was only Ultimecia's power that brought me back to life."

She looked up and Squall saw the spurting red blood from the wound in her chest where she'd been shot.

"Xu! No!" Selphie cried.

"Xu!" Quistis pushed Squall out of the way and hugged her.

"Quistis," Xu said. "I guess you're the boss now. I'm sorry for everything." She exhaled and fell back to the floor.

Xu was dead.


	26. Chapter 25: Degrees of Losing

Chapter 25: Degrees of Losing

**Timber Resistance Forces  
**0100 Hours, March 17 2 G.E.  
Location: Great Salt Lake, Esthar Outskirts, Esthar

The ships had pulled ashore near the Great Salt Lake of Esthar, however unloading the massive war cannons and gear that they'd developed was tricky on unstable ground. Being under constant watch by the Galbadian government they had only completed two cannons, which the resistance members had codenamed Bahamut and Odin, after two mythical guardian forces. They had also managed to steal a pair of X-ATM "Black Widow" robots and an Iron Clad.

"Unload the cannons, bring up the front with that Iron Clad, let's move!" Jenson shouted. " We need to get them in range of that Garden!"

Jenson himself was standing on top of one of the X-ATMs, piloting it by, in this case, not-so-remote control.

"Sir," said one of the soldiers. "The Garden's coming about towards the Palace it looks like."

"Understood. This lake is the most direct route. Let's hurry or we'll miss the show!"

**Dark Garden Forces  
**0130 Hours, March 17 2 G.E.

"Edea and Seifer have left the Galbadia Garden," Ellone said when she awoke fully.

Laguna was so relieved to see her open her eyes again he flung her arms around her. But still the question remained.

"How do you know these things?" Laguna asked.

"She's a Sorceress," Squall said. "They have unique gifts."

He turned to her and looked her in the eyes. She nodded.

"You're correct. I was the one who was transporting you and your friends back into the past," Ellone explained.

"Wait, what?" Kiros asked.

"We would have what we thought were dreams-" But Squall was cut off by Laguna.

"Selphie told us all about those dreams. I just didn't realize a Sorceress could project other people into different times, let alone other people's heads," Laguna grunted.

"Uncle Laguna," Ellone said. "You must hurry to the Lunatic Pandora. If you don't stop the Sorceress Ultimecia very soon, it will be too late. Without my power she is weakened, but she has learned much in these two years. Even though Time Compression is not within her reach without me, with the power of the Lunatic Pandora, she will simply destroy each continent until there is nowhere else left for me to hide."

"Understood. But we're not going to leave until we find a safe transport for you," Laguna explained.

"I'll have the rest of my soldiers that were with us take her back to Dark Garden," Squall said. "Once the battlefield clears up a bit."

"I'll make some calls," Fabian said, moving over to the radio.

Squall went back to Quistis, who was still looking over the body of Xu.

"Quistis," Squall said. "I know this is hard, but we still have a job to do."

Quistis was holding Xu's hand.

"When they removed me from my position as instructor Xu was the only person who defended me," Quistis said. "She always took care of me."

"I remember you telling me about that day. Back in the Garden," Squall said.

"I told you to meet me in the 'secret area'," Quistis nodded, smiling slightly. "Xu and I actually use to go there when we were students. Never did anything special, just read a magazine or play cards. Having a friend like that who is willing to do anything with you, even if it's nothing-"

She trailed off, leaned in and hugged Xu.

"Give her a minute," Rinoa said. Squall nodded and returned to the others.

"Well on that note, with Adel defeated the remaining Esthar forces have begun to flee into the mountains. Pity, I was hoping they'd join our side," Laguna sighed.

"Half their troops are cyborgs anyways. I guess they've been programmed to go off themselves so they don't fall into enemy hands," Zell grunted lazily.

"Yeah that and the fact that our soldiers don't know that yet and wearing their uniforms they'd still get shot at," Kiros said.

"Oh yeah, that probably matters," Laguna nodded.

"The good news is that reinforcements should be here any moment," Caraway said. "How is Dark Garden faring?"

"Not good," Fabian answered. "Their hull is severely beaten. They've temporarily recalled their ground forces and are moving southeast to get out of range of the anti-air batteries."

"Just as well. They need time to recuperate until reinforcements arrive," Nida said. "We should still be able to get Ellone safely there with a vehicle transport of some kind."

"You'll be pleased to hear that Cole is still alive and well," Fabian said.

"Thank goodness. We were severely outmatched from the start," Squall said. "I guess in a way we're lucky to have done this well."

"Who's feeding you all this info anyways?" Dent asked.

"Zone and Watts," Fabian smirked. "'Gathering info is my specialty, sir'."

"We still have the issue of Edea entering the Lunatic Pandora. That's where she is now, so how are we supposed to get there?" Irvine said.

"We," Laguna pondered his words carefully. "Well we might be in position to acquire a manner of airship."

Ward gave Laguna a stern look and made a wing motion with his arms.

"Yes, Ward, I'm talking about Ragnarok. When we flew it back to rescue Ellone it was confiscated by the military. It's likely still at the airport, just a short hike from here," Laguna explained.

"Okay. That's our next goal then," Quistis said, standing up.

"Are you okay?" Selphie asked.

"Not really," Quistis said. "My best friend is dead. All I know is that I won't be happy again until we make sure she didn't die in vain."

"And by that you mean until we send Sorceress Ultimecia to hell, right?" Raurk asked.

"That's one way of putting it," Quistis said, loading a rifle and passing one to Raurk. "These Esthar rifles pack a bit more punch. I'd say we could use the extra firepower."

"You heard the lady, grab a gun and let's go!" Caraway shouted.

The group hastened to pick a weapon from the nearby armory, Squall and Laguna stood behind.

"Not a fan of rifles?" Laguna asked.

"My gunblade suits me just fine," Squall said.

"I wouldn't dream of giving up my Desperado either," Laguna nodded.

"So about what Adel said," Squall asked. "Or rather what she implied."

Laguna closed his eyes and folded his arms. "I left Raine shortly after we were married to go try and save Ellone. She was pregnant when I left her."

"I grew up in an orphanage in the Centra continent before being transferred to Balamb Garden," Squall said.

Laguna shrugged. "You're about the right age. You could be my son."

Squall rubbed his head.

"Need a bear hug?" Laguna smirked.

"We should probably deal with this another time," Squall said.

"Heh, you're right. For right now let's just think of each other as comrades," Laguna nodded.

"Fabian, Nida," Squall ordered. "You are to guard Ellone with your life and escort her safely back to Dark Garden. Make sure you tell Dark Garden to get as far out of range as possible so she can be summoned by Ultimecia, understood?"

"You've got it," Fabian nodded. "We'll see you all when you get back."

**Timber Resistance Forces  
**Esthar Highlands, Esthar Capitol Area, Esthar**  
**0200 Hours, March 17 2 G.E.

"Galbadia Garden is in range! They don't appear to have noticed us yet!" A soldier announced.

"Yeah that's because it's night time and we aren't firing anything at them. That won't last long though. How long until Odin and Bahamut are ready to fire?" Jenson asked.

"Another minute or two."

"Okay, ground forces flank the Palace from the north west. Battery defenses find good places in these rocks to take cover," Jenson shouted. He then lowered his voice and asked the cannon techs, "how many shots you think to take something of that size down?"

"No less than eight direct hits. Four minute recharge time means at least twenty minutes assuming all hits land, which I'm sure they won't," a cannon tech replied.

"Cheery thought. Well we'll take the first two for free at least. Fire at will!"

Odin and Bahamut sent out massive balls of energy hurling through the air. Two clean and devastating hits to the hull.

"Nice shot! I can practically see through the damn thing! Recharge, and get ready for some retaliatory fire!"

The Garden slowly altered its course and moved slowly through the air towards the source of the fire.

"Not too bright are they?" Jenson laughed. "Just presenting us with an easier target."

"And _their _cannons."

However before Galbadia Garden was in range to fire their weapons, Odin and Bahamut got in two more shots. Odin's shot flew too high, but Bahamut smashed right through the bridge. As devastating as these shots were, it was Gardens turn to fire. 50 calibur gatling rounds poured down on them as two missile strikes hit the area around them. Fortunately in that salvo the only thing destroyed was the Iron Clad.

The battery defense team opened fire, although with only sniper rifles and RPGs they weren't able to inflict much damage. Jenson picked up an RPG and looked through the scope. "Let's see if I can undo one of those guns."

He launched the rocket which hit its mark beautifully, knocking out one of the gatling guns. The next missile salvo, however was devastating. The battery defense team was hit hard, one cluster being completely obliterated in the explosion.

"We've already lost half of our troops! This is suicide!" The cannon tech shouted.

"We have to stand our ground. That thing is half broken at any rate!" Jenson ordered.

Odin and Bahamut fired two more bolts. Each shot smashed the side of the ship.

"Garden is in range of these cannons! They'll target them for sure! " A soldier shouted.

Another missile salvo launched. Jenson, the cannon techs and nearby soldiers leapt out of the path of the missiles which hit the cannon launch pad dead center. When the smoke cleared, all that remained of Bahamut was rubble, but somehow Odin appeared to have survived, although severely battered.

"It's ready to fire again!" Jenson shouted.

"The cannon's overheated! Fire it now the damn with will blow you up with it!" the cannon tech shouted.

"I'm not giving up out last chance to take this thing down, but I don't plan on dying either," Jenson shouted.

He rushed back over to Odin and lined up his shot.

"Rear engines, "Jenson though. They're close enough now that I could probably hit it."

He calibrated and then leapt out of the seat. He smashed the trigger with his rifle and then leapt behind his X-ATM as the cannon did exactly what the tech predicted. It launched its last bolt, but the backblast was too strong to be filtered. The X-ATM shielded him from the shrapnel of the remaining cannon.

The bolt sailed up grazing the underbelly of Galbadia Garden and hitting the engines exactly as Jenson had planned. The Garden lost power and slowly began to spin out of the air. It crash landed in the nearby plains, completely grounded.

Jenson stood up. "Contact Dark Garden at once! Let them know that they don't need to worry about that thing anymore!"

**SeeD Forces  
**Esthar Airport, Esthar Capitol, Esthar**  
**0230 Hours, March 17 2 G.E.

"Incredible!" Rinoa gasped.

"Must have been the resistance forces! " Irvine laughed. "Well save some monsters and a few remaining ground forces, the path to the Lunatic Pandora is clear!"

They ran along the Esthar skyway to the large airport terminal where, unfortunately, the battle was still raging on between the Galbadian ground forces and the monsters. The monsters the decidedly better force. The group saw a squad of Galbadian soldiers taking cover behind a maintenance vehicle. Their Captain, upon seeing them readied his weapon.

"You're outmatched and outgunned. And your ride home's been shot up," Laguna said. "The monsters are going to kill us all if we don't work together to bust through them."

The Captain considered Laguna's words. Squall didn't think it was a very elegant or convincing speech, but there was a certain confident aire about him which made him sort of realize why the Esthar Resistance made him their leader.

"What's your plan?" The Captain asked.

"Sorceress Edea isn't acting under her own…. No that's too complicated. Let's keep it simple. Your boss ditched you with pretty boy, um… uh-" Laguna looked at Squall for some help.

"General Seifer Almasy," Squall said to the soldier.

"Yeah. And they're going inside that Lunatic Pandora. I don't think they plan to come back. There's a couple of good ships in that airport still. We'll take one and provide cover fire until you're safely aboard yours. You can try to regroup at Galbadia Garden and maybe even, oh I don't know, make a retreat?" Laguna explained.

"But the Sorceress and General-"

"Have been using you and the entire Galbadian military to get to that," Laguna said. "You don't have to believe me, though I'd appreciate if you pass my word along. All I'm asking for is your acceptance of my battle strategy, okay?"

The Captain looked back at the monsters still ripping through the other soldiers in the area.

"Okay fine!" The Captain grunted, not too happy about the arrangement. "Troops! We got… reinforcements! We're going to fall back into the Airport!"

The Galbadian troops gathered together and as they moved closer to the airport Squall and the others could see the main source of the concern. Standing on a large bridge that served as the main entrance to the airport was a massive monster. It was a creature with the hindlegs of a reptile, the torso of a human and the head of an eagle, with enormous horns sprouting from the top. It carried the same hammer that it did when they'd first met.

"The creature from the train," Selphie said.

"I been waiting to settle the score with this guy!" Zell shouted.

"Careful!" Caraway shouted. "Remember what I told you! It's one of the Galbadian monsters. This one is probably under our control!"

"Our control?!" The Captain shouted. "Have you gone mad? The damn thing is killing all of us. These monsters all went nuts once the Sorceress left Galbadia Garden."

"That's because your technology wasn't controlling them, the Sorceress was," Laguna explained.

"That much was obvious, Laguna," Kiros said. "How do we beat it?"

"The thing tore down half of our company already, I don't think anything can beat it," The Captain replied.

"Hey mister," Rinoa said, leaning down to the Captain. "We're SeeD. This is kind of our specialty."

"Listen. We'll distract it," Squall said. "Get your men inside. Take any ship you all can fly except the Ragnarok. We'll need that to get into the Pandora to hopefully stop these monsters for good."

"Understood!" The Captain nodded. "We'll try to draw the fire of some of the smaller beasts as well."

He added this as an aside as though he wanted to seem like he was doing something more useful than retreating, but Laguna appreciated it all the same. The monster finally took notice of Squall's group and slowly began to approach them. The Captain and his men rushed around a side passage into the airport hangar. True to his word, some of the monsters followed his team, drawn by the sound of their gunfire.

"This thing can wipe us out with one blow and use our energy to become stronger," Dent said. "How are we supposed to beat something like that?"

"Easy. Quickly," Raurk quipped as he opened fire with the rifle he'd picked up in the armory.

The rounds from the weapon didn't even penetrate the monster's armor-like skin. Zell rushed in next and chose to go for brute strength, punching it straight in the human torso (assuming that was the weakest part) with his knuckles. All that resulted was Zell falling back on the ground and almost getting his head crushed by the monster's hammer.

Irvine took the same strategy as Raurk, but kept his distance. Unfortunately, it worked about as well as Raurk's. Selphie rolled under the beasts legs and leapt up on its back. She pummeled in it the head with her nunchaku, which did seem to startle the beast. When she landed she shot a blast of ice at it, but as her thunder spell all those weeks ago had done it only seemed to strengthen it.

"Magical energy makes it stronger too!" Selphie shouted, dodging the beasts fierce, but slow, swipe.

"Guns won't harm it either!" Nida shouted.

"Not even mine," Laguna said.

"What now hotshot?!" Kiros asked.

"Start by not whining at me like a bitter boyfriend!" Laguna cursed. "And follow me. I've got an idea."

"That scares me even more," Kiros whined, but follow Laguna as they ran around to the entrance of the airport.

"Are they leaving without us?" Rinoa asked.

Ward turned around. He raised his left hand and let it drop swiftly. He then raised both hands and then lowered them slowly.

Squall sighed. "I think he's saying that one of them might have, but the other should slow him down."

"Some hero, your dad," Rinoa said. "Come on, we have to help!"

Rinoa shot her guillotine-like boomerang at the monster's neck, but this did less than even Selphie's attack, which had only startled the beast. It bled for a bit and then patched right up. To make matters worse, the projectile snapped in half.

"Damn it!" Rinoa stomped her foot in frustration.

Zell was back up and still trying to make an impact with his fists when Laguna and Kiros grabbed him out of the way and dragged him with them into the airport.

"Yo, where we going?!" Zell demanded. "The fights out there."

"I hear you're the man to talk to about machines," Laguna said.

"That's me," Zell nodded.

"Think you can re-direct the Anti-Air Battery on top of this tower to fire at say… 280 degrees?" Kiros asked.

"We're talking down and a little to the left?" Zell asked. "If they full 360 rotational then there's no reason why they wouldn't but the blast would be way too powerful at this range. We'd all be killed including me, the gunner."

"What if you didn't load them with missiles and just use the dummy shells. You know the ones with no warhead?" Kiros asked.

"I fail to see the point. There's be no explosion. Best you'd get is a broken bridge," Zell said. And then it clicked. "Leave it to me!"

Squall was looking at the beast trying to figure some kind of weakpoint. Guns were useless. Blades were useless. Magic was useless.

"Everybody!" Laguna shouted. "Off this bridge now!"

They all ran away from the monster. Those closer to the airport on one side and those further another. The monster turned around looking at all of his opponents. It slowly made the decision to march towards the larger group away from the airport. But before it could even take its fourth step, Zell shouted from the A.A. battery.

"Hey! Let's see how well you block these out!" Zell shouted.

In a sudden movement of rage the monster glared at Raurk, who was closest. Before Zell had time to fire the beast threw his hammer at Raurk which hit him square in the chest. Zell fired the two dummy shells which ripped through the bridge sending the monster falling down thousands of feet into the lower parts of the city.

But at this point the death of the monster was irrelevant. Raurk was not getting up. He wasn't moving. Dent had somehow found the strength to push the massive hammer off of his comrade.

"Dent… he isn't," Rinoa began.

Dent checked his wrist. He took off his glasses. Running his free hand through his head for a moment before punching the street, he forced himself to give a form of acknowledgement. He shook his head.

"No," Dent said. "Raurk didn't make it."

To be concluded...


	27. Chapter 26: SeeD

**SeeD Forces  
**Esthar Airport, Esthar Capitol, Esthar  
0330 Hours, March 17 2 G.E.

The gunfire in the city had all but stopped. The chiefest of calamities had fallen, and the only remaining soldiers on the fields from all sides were now retreating. The moonlight shone over the city as every light in the immediate area seemed to have gone out.

"You need to get to the Lunatic Pandora," Dent said, after a time.

"Dent…" Rinoa leaned down near him.

"I'm fine," Dent said, shaking his head. "I knew Raurk a long time. Going out in combat is the way that he'd want to go. I will stay behind to take care of him. You get to the Lunatic Pandora now. There isn't much time left."

Laguna looked over at the others. "Ragnarok is ready to go whenever. Kiros is just about finished plotting our course as well."

"Dent," Squall said. "Thank you for everything. We wouldn't have made it this far without your help."

Dent nodded. "Get going, Squall. Or else everything about today will have been pointless."

Squall looked around at his comrades and led the way down a side road into the airport. Within moments, Dent saw the enormous red spaceship fly into the air and blast off in the direction of the looming, distant Lunatic Pandora.

Chapter 26: SeeD

The Lunatic Pandora was larger than anything Squall had ever seen. Even Galbadia Garden and Dark Garden stacked atop one another would only match a fifth of its height. Its depth was such that an entire island country could be stored within one floor of the behemoth structure. It shone a pale blue which only seemed to magnify in intensity the closer they got to it.

"They'll no doubt have some sort of shield mechanism," Kiros said. "Blasters on this ship should be able to pierce right through them."

However as they approached the Lunatic Pandora, nothing barred their way. No force field or shield of any kind, no crossfire. No defenses of any manner were employed against them. Kiros ripped a hole in the ship with the cannons of Ragnarok and then used the ship's claw-like grappling bars to clutch the side of the vessel.

"Caraway, Ward and I will wait here with the ship," Kiros said. "We'll keep the engines running in case you need to get out quickly." Kiros looked at Laguna. "I think you should stay as well."

"Why me?" Laguna asked.

"If anything happens while we're away they could use your rifle," Squall said. "Let us handle whatever waits inside."

Laguna nodded. "Very well. Us old folks will just sit back and stay outta the way of you youngsters."

Kiros chuckled appreciatively and lowered the landing gear. Squall, Rinoa, Quistis, Irvine, Zell and Selphie walked out of the Ragnarok.

"Just us six again, huh," Zell commented. "Can't explain why but it seems like it makes sense, you know?"

"It's the same as two years ago," Irvine said. "Only this time we get the opportunity to complete the task at hand."

They walked down one of the crystalline halls of the Lunatic Pandora heading towards roughly the center of the place. Squall had difficulty telling where anything was in something this massive, but in an odd way he felt as though he'd already traveled this path.

This was why when they came to a series of elevators, he knew exactly where to go and what to do.

"This one," Squall said.

"So, what's waiting for us when we get there?" Selphie asked. "Edea, right?"

"And Seifer," Squall explained. "If anybody wants to go back, now is the time."

The five other members of SeeD shook their head.

"We're with you until the end, Squall," Rinoa nodded.

Squall opened the elevator, and the six got onboard. There was a low hum as the elevator ascended the massive tube. When finally it stopped and the doors opened, they found themselves in a manner of control room with a long path leading behind the control panels into an enormous arena-like chamber.

Standing in the center of the room was Seifer.

Squall took the lead and walked over to him, his gunblade outstretched.

"Seifer," Squall said holding his gunblade out.

"She said she no longer needed me," Seifer said, keeping himself turned away from Squall. "She said that I had done my part and now there was nothing left for me to do."

"That's what the Sorceress does with her pawns," Squall said. "You gave her what she needed and she cast you aside."

"No!" Seifer shouted, turning back to Squall and raising his weapon. "It's because I wasn't able to kill you. She doesn't require a knight who cannot properly dispose of her enemies!"

"You've lost it, Seifer," Rinoa shouted. "Just give up! She was using you from the beginning!"

"No!" Seifer stamped his foot. "Once I've killed you, Squall, the Sorceress will forgive me. I'll be her knight once more!"

With a wave of his hand a barrier blocked the others from Squall. Seifer lunged at him with his gunblade and Squall only had enough reaction time to dodge out of the way. Seifer turned on the spot and began wailing on him, each forceful pounding smashing into Squall's own gunblade and knocking him further and further back along the passage.

"You've got nobody to save you this time Squall! You're not getting away from me now!" Seifer cried as each strike rang throughout the hollow chamber.

Squall finally found an opening and pushed back against Seifer. Now he was in control of the battle, forcing Seifer to parry his blows. One particularly violent swipe almost tore the hand off Seifer, who fell back in astonishment.

"I don't require any help to kill you Seifer. If that's what you truly want, I would be more than happy to dispatch you where you stand!" Squall shouted, holding Seifer down with his sword. "But you have already lost everything because you betrayed us. Your master does not want you anymore and she will never want you."

"Liar!" Seifer shouted leaping up and stabbing Squall in the shoulder. He pulled the trigger of his gunblade and Squall fell back as bullets ripped through his shoulderblade; his left arm was useless.

In pure hatred and anger Squall raised his sword up with his good hand and slashed through Seifer's chest. Seifer dropped his weapon and fell to his knees.

"Everything I did, I did for her," Seifer said. "Why wasn't it good enough? Why do you get to live, and I have to die?"

"You forged your own destiny the first time you crossed blades with me, Seifer," Squall said. "It didn't have to end like this."

"One of us was always going to die by the hand of the other," Seifer said. "It's a part of my romantic dream. To be a Sorceress's Knight, you know? I'll have to tell you about it someday."

Seifer fell back onto the metal floor, the barrier disappeared, and he breathed his last.

"Come on," Squall said. "Ultimecia is ahead."

They came to a large series of ladders at the end of the arena-like chamber. They climbed slowly until they reached the top of the very last ladder, where a small walkway into the very heart of the Pandora stood. As the walked down the walkway, they saw a room at the end, wherein a woman sat in a small chair in the middle, facing away from them. The room was perfectly circular with ornamental curtains hung at odd intervals throughout the room. The woman had raven black hair and wore a matching dress.

"Edea," Selphie said.

"Or should we say Ultimecia?" Quistis said, raising her whip.

"You can call me whatever you wish, it is truly irrelevant at this stage," Edea said, not bothering to turn and face them. "I no longer require that boy, nor even do I require Ellone."

"You need her power to compress time," Zell said. "She's too far away from you now."

"Nobody is ever out of my reach at this point, Zell Dincht. Not even your mother in Balamb, who is, as we speak, dying of a heart attack," Edea said.

A monitor appeared out of nowhere and on it, Zell saw his mother in her kitchen in Balamb falling over and clutching her chest.

"No! "Zell shouted.

"Nor is Jenson, your comrade-in-arms," Edea said.

Another image showing Jenson riding the X-ATM through Esthar. A sign fell off its foundation from above and crushed him to death.

"Stop this!" Selphie shouted.

"I am at complete control of not only time, but of all destiny and life within any era of history. I discovered how to utilize Ellone's power while she remained safely tucked away in her coma in your Garden. I learned her secret, and then I sought out the Lunatic Pandora so as to amplify the power required to bend time and history to my will," Edea said.

"So what do you plan to do now?" Rinoa asked.

"I no longer need to compress time to assure my survival. I have attained the ultimate power. I no longer require useless puppets of any kind," Edea said.

Suddenly, Edea fell to the ground, her body limp as another women appeared standing in the spot where Edea once was. At first, she was translucent, but then slowly she became opaque. The woman wore a long red dress. Her hair stuck out to two sides almost like the horns of some great demon.

"I am Sorceress Ultimecia. And who are you? Six Seeds, planted in a run-down Garden," Ultimecia smiled cruelly as more images came up. Students of the Garden dying in horrible ways, members of the Timber resistance, citizens of Esthar. "Hopelessly watching as I eliminate everyone and everything you love."

Irvine lifted his rifle and shot at Ultimecia. The bullet hit her in the chest. She stopped for a moment and looked down at the gunshot wound.

"Irvine Kinneas. Never able to take that shot, nor pull the trigger when it matters the most," Ultimecia said.

As she spoke, Irvine was raising the rifle to his own head.

"Irvine stop!" Rinoa shouted.

But Irvine did not respond to anybody.

"Remember what you learned in practice, Irvine," Ultimecia smiled.

"Slowly breath. As you exhale, pull the tri-" Irvine fired a round into his own head and fell to floor.

"Irvine!" Selphie screamed.

Ultimecia then turned to Quistis. "Quistis Trepe, you failed as both a teacher and a student. You weren't able to save your career. You couldn't even save the life of your best friend."

Quistis slowly wrapped her whip around her own neck.

"For such failure, hanging is the only option," Ultimecia said.

Squall tried to undo the whip from around her neck, but with a glance from Ultimecia he was pushed back. Quistis tied the whip to a platform above her by casting the same floating spell Selphie had used before. Once the effect wore off, her body dropped and a crack echoed and snapped through the chamber.

"It is hopeless," Ultimecia said. "I will make you all murder yourselves until I am the only one that remains."

"You exist in world where we cannot," came a small voice from behind Squall. Squall turned and saw Ellone standing behind him.

"Ellone, what are you doing?!" Rinoa shouted.

"You exist in the future, yet you are present here. I know how to stop you," Ellone said. Ellone turned to Squall. "Squall. Sorceress's pass on their power before they die. Ultimecia must have received her power in the same way. Xu killed Adel. Ultimecia killed Edea. That means I am the last Sorceress alive in this era."

"Shut up you brat!" Ultimecia shouted, but for some reason while Ellone was present, Ultimecia's power had no effect.

"If I die, there will be a time paradox. Ultimecia will not have been able to exist," Ellone said.

"You're telling me to kill you?" Squall asked.

"If Ultimecia never existed, the damage she has done to history will be re-written to a point where she can have existed. The only way for that to happen is if somebody else became a Sorceress."

"And all that will happen is Adel shall be resurrected," Utlimecia laughed. "You cannot undo history."

"Squall, please listen to me," Ellone said. "This was not the way this story was supposed to happen. Trust in me."

"You will all die slowly no matter what choice you choose, Squall Leonhart," Ultimecia said. "Will you become a murderer too?"

"Squall, believe in me. This is not your true story," Ellone said.

With a scream of anguish, Squall brought his gunblade down into Ellone's chest. Then, it was if the entire world was melting. The room around them slowly evaporated into blackness. Memories of events that had not happened came flooding back to him.

They had escaped the prison only days after being captured, not years. They had managed to save Balamb Garden. The two Gardens clashed over Centra Continent and Edea was freed. They had made it to Esthar but in this universe Adel had not taken over but been imprisoned in space.

And Rinoa had been made a sorceress. His five comrades now stood alive and well, standing before Ultimecia, only this was no longer the Lunatic Pandora. This was her realm.

"You have undone my version of history," Ultimecia said. "But once you are dead, it will be easy enough to recreate!"

Squall lunged at Ultimecia slashing at her with his blade. Rinoa sent a bolt of magical energy rushing at Ultimecia. Irvine fired his rifle and Quistis struck at Ultimecia with her whip. Selphie and Zell took up the charge with magical attacks of their own, all six of them putting all of their energy into the destruction of Ultimecia.

With a final strike from Squall, Ultimecia disappeared in a ray of light and slowly the world began to right itself around them.

They stood now on the vast plains of Esthar. Ellone stood with them. She turned to Squall.

"Ellone!" Squall gasped.

"You have corrected history to what it should have been," Ellone said. "But you belong in another timeline."

"What of you? What of the others?" Squall asked.

"I cannot make promises, but I will try what I can for them," Ellone said. "This is not the world you were meant to live in, nor the life you were meant to live."

"We don't get to choose the life we are given," Squall said. "We will make do with what we have."

"That is all that anybody can ask of you," Ellone said. She closed her eyes and disappeared.

As they looked up, Dark Garden flew overhead. Ragnarok flew a short ways behind them. A small brigade came up behind them, and in their ranks were Dent, Raurk and Xu.

"You've been having all the fun without us!" Raurk shouted.

Quistis rushed up and hugged Xu as Dark Garden landed beside them. Cid rolled out in his wheelchair and walking beside him was Edea who was smiling.

"Well done all of you," she said.

"You six have done some extraordinary work for the Garden," Cid smiled. "Especially you Captain Leonhart. Or perhaps I should be saying Colonel Leonhart. I trust you have a full report to give me."

"With respect, headmaster, I believe the report can wait," came Laguna's voice from behind Squall. "Esthar defeated, Galbadia driven back home with their tails between their legs and two evil Sorceress's defeated. I believe this calls for celebration!"

The sun slowly began to rise over the plateaus east. The ruins of the Lunatic Pandora and the Galbadia Garden lay behind him, the liberated city of Esthar to his north. The events of the past few months rushed through his mind as he looked over Dark Garden and into the faces of his comrades.

"I think I would like to give my report now," Squall said. "And honestly, I've no idea where to begin."

"I've found starting at the beginning usually helps," Laguna offered cheerfully.

"That's the trouble I'm having," Squall said. "Which beginning?"


End file.
